A Lawyer and the Executive Secretary for the National Coalition for Proper Human Sexual Rights and Family Values, Moses Foh-Amoaning, has reposed confidence in President Nana Akufo-Addo on assenting to the LBGTQ+ bill.
According to Lawyer Foh-Anoaning, he believes the president, considering how smart a person he is, will append his signature to the bill for it to become a law.
On February 28, 2024, Parliament passed the bill which outlaws LGBTQ activities and criminalizes its promotion, advocacy, and funding.
Individuals found guilty would face a jail term of 6 months to 3 years, while promoters and sponsors of the act could face a 3 to 5 year jail term.
The passage of the Bill has drawn criticism from some stakeholders, including the Ambassador of the United States to Ghana, Virginia Evelyn Palmer.
Regarding the potential response of President Nana Akufo-Addo to the bill, Foh-Amoaning expressed confidence in the President’s alignment with Ghanaian values and emphasized the political implications of any decision he will take.
Lawyer Foh-Amoaning added that the passage of the bill is not to criminalize individuals, but to provide care, treatment, and support for those grappling with gender identity and sexual orientation challenges.
He said, “the focus of the Coalition is not to criminalize or dump people in prisons…those people who get caught in these challenges, we were very clear in our mind that what they needed was care treatment and support, and it’s in the bill.”
Responding to critics of the bill such as the Chairperson for the Centre for Democratic Development, Prof. Audrey Gadzekpo, and the evolution of perspectives within Ghanaian society, particularly mentioning Member of Parliament Sam George, Foh-Amoaning stressed the importance of education and understanding in shaping viewpoints.
Speaking on 3FM's Sunrise with Jonny Hughes, monitored by Peacefmonline.com, Foh-Amoaning explained, “Sam himself has been educated by relating with us. He has understood how false this whole human rights argument is, and when I listen to Audrey, she’s only talking standard LGBT template arguments. So, Sam probably then was not educated and he tells me that is the thing that pushed him and made him realize this is serious.”
Mr. Foh-Amoaning addressed the political dimension of their advocacy, citing constitutional principles and the promotion of Ghanaian values as the foundation of their work.
He emphasized, “if you say we’re political you are right because that’s what we are engaged in, we want to ensure that the people of this country are protected and that’s what the Constitution says.”
Foh-Amoaning further underscored the potential political implications if the President fails to sign the Bill, warning that the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) could gain political advantage in the 2024 general elections.
“Well, the President is a very smart politician and what I’ve told everybody who’s asked me this question is, first of all there’s no President who has ascended the presidency of Ghana who has used the word of God more than this President. So, the point I’m trying to make is, with all that I know about the President, I know he will sign this bill,” he asserted.
He warned of significant consequences for the ruling party should the President choose not to sign the bill, predicting electoral repercussions and potential loss of support.
“If he refuses to sign, it would be very easy the NDC will just package the NPP as 'Trumu Trumu' party”.
Mr Foh-Amoaning reiterated the Coalition’s commitment to promoting Ghanaian family values and protecting the interests of the nation.
Source: Kobina Darlington/peacefmonline.com
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Let NDC do whatever they want. This LGBTQ law will not put food on the table for people to eat. Lets get serious in this country. We travel to LGBTQ countries to get loans and waste the money.
@Kojo, what kinda stricter rules or laws would help these folks? The world has become so complicated that we have outgrown our norms. Am not saying we should all throw our hands in the air and do nothing. But I am of the view that stricter punishment for this unfortunate friends of ours is not the solution. Let’s love, embrace and talk to them. Going to be difficult but stricter punishment is not a panacea.
KTR, my apologies, but what you have said isn't connecting logically. Are you saying that if there are not punitive laws against other sexuaI "sins" that our culture frowns upon, then there's no basis for this law? Let us not limit it to only sexuaI sins, if we broaden it, you will realise that not everything culture frowns upon has incriminating consequences. For instance, I don't believe our culture welcomes gossip, but there is no law conferring punishment on culprits. Should arms robbers then say the laws against ***barred word*** are selective and that the enactors are hypocrites because there is no law against gossip? Don't tell me ***barred word*** is not a cultural issue. For LGBT stuff, our cultural values always contributed to the basis for the recognition of it as unnatural in our laws. So here, we not just dealing with things that merely offend culture, but more things that are deemed more devastating and hence the need for stricter laws against them
This man is the biggest ***barred word*** there is. However, I will add that if we are going to use cultural values to make laws, then there should be laws punishing adultery and fornication. Unless it is our culture to engage in those acts or our right to choose which vice should be punished. If we do not come out to explain why other sexual vices which are against our culture are not incriminated, then we should forget about the cultural values as the basis of the argument against LGBTQ and focus only on incriminating its promotion and not the act itself. Because no one goes about promoting fornication and adultery. If not this whole thing smells of hypocrisy and an agenda against a group of people
Massa, gyaegyimi no. Let the NDC go ahead and do whatever. Instead they sitting down and finding pragmatic solutions to the issues, they are playing politics with it. ***barred word***, already reigns in our prisons. Putting these culprits in prison wouldn’t solve the problem. Are you putting them behind bars forever? Will this change their lifestyles when they are released back to society? Am yet to see a coherent research results that points to this fact or otherwise. We need to think as a people and find more workable solution to this self-inflicted injury to our society than becoming pretenders. I believe this lawyer knew about this canker during his secondary school days. We all sat aloof doing nothing and now it has blown in own faces. May the Lord be our helper!
Hitherto, LGBTQ+ was not a social outcry of protest in Ghanaian communities until the NDC made it an issue to score cheap political points. Now they seem to be using it to blackmail the ruling party by forcing the President to sign the LGBTQ+ Bill into law. Sam George of the NDC has succeeded in making the case that LGBTQ+ is a pressing social and cultural issue that we should do something about. I strongly detest the NDC's approach to multi-party democracy, which I believe they are trying to use to serve their proachial political interests. Instead of designing policies to solve pressing problems, they are indiscriminately picking and pasting just to get votes. This kind of politics assumes and underestimates the intelligence of the electorate.