Speaker of Parliament, Prof Mike Ocquaye
Ghana’s Speaker of Parliament has said homosexuals do not and must not have rights in relation to their sexual orientation, adding that they rather need psychological and spiritual help.
At the Speaker’s Prayer Breakfast on Wednesday, 30 October 2019, Prof Mike Oquaye, who is also a reverend minister pointedly told the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Intersex (LGBTQI) community that they cannot have rights vis-a-vis their sexuality.
“You have deviant conduct”, he said to homosexuals, adding: “It’s deviant conduct like any other deviant conduct”.
Prof Oquaye, however, said Ghana’s cultural and religious abhorrence to homosexuality does not translate into hate against the LGBTQI community.
“Of course, it doesn’t mean you must be killed, it doesn’t mean your arm must be amputated; we don’t do any such thing here. We try to handle the matter – either we teach you medically, or we also handle it psychologically”, Prof Oquaye noted, adding: “On top of that when it comes to a spiritual connotation and you need deliverance, we shall handle it”.
Prof Oquaye urged Ghanaians to rise against such “corruption of public morals”, saying: “It is a matter of concern to all because some people may have sex with animals, turn round and bring bestiality sicknesses and be having sex with other human beings then you tell me it is your business, it is not your business”.
“There is no single chapter or verse that will support homosexuality in the Bible or the Quran”, Prof Oquaye noted, adding: “In the African traditional system, you cannot imagine … somebody coming with a beard and another coming with a mustache and they say they are going to marry”.
“As for disguised homosexuality and so on and so forth, we should all stand as one and ensure it is not legalized in Ghana”, he encouraged, saying Ghanaians must, with the firmness of conviction, “march ahead as Christians, Muslims, traditionalists, who believe in the pathway for our country”.
