Sophia Akufo, Former Chief Justice
Former Chief Justice Sophia Akuffo has criticized the activities of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex etc. (LGBTQI+) in Ghana, emphasizing the importance of preserving the country's customs and traditions.
According to her, the gulf between Western lifestyles and African values has proven to be vast in the wake of same-sex relationships.
Speaking in an interview on Metro TV on December 25, 2023, Chief Justice Akuffo questioned the motivations behind Western nations attempting to impose LGBTQ+ practices on African nations, particularly Ghana.
She underscored the importance of respecting and maintaining Ghana's traditional and customary practices, stating that these practices do not include same-sex marriages.
"As Ghanaians, we have our traditions, we have our traditional and customary practices, which certainly do not, as far as I know in almost 75 years of my age, include men marrying men.
"Therefore, I cannot accept the idea of men marrying men or women marrying women, as it goes against our cultural norms," she said.
She criticized the focus on LGBTQI+ issues by Western nations, questioning why they weren't similarly concerned about practices such as polygamy, which is part of African traditions.
“And two men can go one day and say this is our son and this is our daughter and they will be carrying a little baby but it took a male and a female to produce that baby they are carrying, is that not so … I am yet to see a pregnant man who has been impregnated by a woman….and you want Ghana to degenerate and devolve to those levels.
“That is the way I see it. I don't see it as something that improves humanity. I don’t, if you think you are going to force it on Ghana…then I think I will join…I think President Kufour also said that keep whatever you want to give to us and we will keep our customs and we will keep what we also value."
She continued “These are other people's values, aren’t they? Why should we abandon our values and embrace other people's values, why aren’t they busy having polygamy? We have polygamy in Ghana, don’t we?
“We still do, it is not unlawful. It is contracted in a certain way…but polygamy, have we said that unless they agree to polygamy, there would be certain consequences, dire consequences which Ghana will met out to the West or some countries or the other, do we?” she quizzed.
AM/SARA
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