Private legal practitioner Akoto Ampaw
• Akoto Ampaw describes as ‘undemocratic’ the anti-LGBTQ+ Bill
• He posits that the bill is a violation of key fundamental human freedoms
• He maintains that most persons in support of the bill are yet to read it
Private legal practitioner Akoto Ampaw has indicated that most Ghanaians who support the anti-LGBTQ+ Bill do not have full details of the document which has been laid before parliament.
He explained that the majority of Ghanaians are only supporting the bill because they are against homosexuality and same-sex related activities.
“One of the things about this bill is that most Ghanaians do not like homosexuality so all they hear is that there is a move to ban homosexuality and on that basis, they say ‘We support it’. In fact, many among them, even the educated class, have not read the bill. All they know is that this bill is to prevent homosexual activity. But the actual provisions of the bill, very few people have read it,” Akoto Ampaw said on Joynews.
He further stated that the supporters of the anti-LGBTQ+ Bill who actually read the documents were taken aback afterwards.
“If you are a mother and you have a son who is a homosexual, you may not be happy about it but I can tell you apart from really crazy mothers, they’d just have to live with that situation. Now, this law puts a duty on that mother to report her son to the police. This is the duty under this law.
“Is this not extremist? What social good does it promote for a mother to go and report her son because of who he is? How do you justify that?” he quizzed.
In regards to the protection of persons who identify as LGBTQ+, Akoto Ampaw said the assurance in the bill will only arouse public sentiment and public hatred for homosexuals.
“The provisions which talk about providing protection and so on are hypocritical. Even our police will not be interested in that portion of the law. If the law says homosexuals are to be dealt with like the bill proposes and people beat them, I tell you…”
“If you go and report to the police that you are a homosexual and you have been beaten, they will just look at you and say ‘go away’. That scheme of the whole bill is meaningless”, Akoto Ampaw added.
A team of 8 MPs led by Sam Nartey George have jointly submitted a private bill to push for the criminalization of LGBTQI+ activities in the country. The Promotion of Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values Bill 2021 was laid in the House on Monday, August 2 and read for the first time.
Second Deputy Speaker, Andrew Asiamah Amoako, has subsequently referred the Bill to the Constitutional, Legal and Parliamentary Committee for consideration.