US ambassador was not in Parliament to lobby

Director of Public Affairs at Parliament of Ghana Jones Kugblenu has denied reports that the US ambassador in Ghana, Gene Cretz and Nana Oye Lithur were in Parliament on Thursday to lobby the Appointment Committee for her position.

Nana Oye Lithur’s nomination and subsequent vetting by the Committee has sparked an outrage over her position on gay rights.

Nana Oye Lithur is a Human Rights advocate who said during her vetting that while she would not promote homosexuality, she would work to protect the rights of gays.

According to Mr. Kugblenu, there was a courtesy call on the Speaker of the house by the US ambassador but the focus of the meeting was not to discuss gay matters like it’s been speculated in the newspapers.

According to him, it is also false that Nana Oye Lithur was present at the meeting.

“Nana Oye Lithur was not present at the meeting and the issue about homosexuality didn’t even come up in the meeting.”

According to Mr. Kugblenu, the Ambassador’s meeting is a normal thing that happens every time a new ambassador is posted to Ghana. “Normally when ambassadors are posted to this country, what they do is that they hold meetings with high political office holders such as His Excellency the President, Speaker and the Chief Justice.”

He mentioned that present at the meeting was the Majority Leader, Dr. Ben Kumbour and Deputy Minority leader, Honourable Dominic Nitiwul.

“So it was arraigned that the meeting between the Speaker and the US ambassador take place yesterday [Thursday] and that was what happened,” he said.