Francis-Xavier Sosu is Madina MP and also a human rights lawyer
• Ghanaians are generally opposed to same-sex relations
• MP for Madina says Parliament will properly scrutinize the anti-gay Bill before it
• The Bill has received stiff opposition from a group of rights defenders and academicians
Francis-Xavier Sosu, Member of Parliament for Madina, has stated the lawmaking chamber will do a good job of the anti-gay Bill properly named: “Promotion of Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values Bill, 2021,” which is currently before it.
According to him, Ghanaians generally do not want to have LGBTQ+ in the country and lawmakers will do all it takes to properly reflect the religious and socio-cultural sentiments of Ghanaians with the Bill.
In an interview on Accra-based Citi TV on October 26, 2021, he disclosed that the Committee on Legal, Constitutional and Parliamentary Affairs, was currently: “reviewing multiple memorandums that has come before us,” following which its chairman will issue directives on the next lines of action.
“At the end of the day, we don’t want to have LGBTQ+ in Ghana, we don’t want their activities in Ghana …in as much as we don’t endorse their activities in Ghana, it doesn’t mean that we must also blindly just pass a piece of legislation that can be problematic to we, ourselves.
“And I am saying that with the mindset of somebody who has practiced law. I recall that when the ‘Restriction of People’s Act’ was passed… the people who were arrested and put in prison, how many of them are very rich? A lot of them are very poor people that they just capture and go and jail.
“So you may have a beautiful law but the people you are targeting can be missed and unintended consequences can result, he added.
He said despite his human rights background, he is also well aware of the need to protect our values and culture. He reiterated that even in Europe, there are courts that have ruled that LGBTQ+ is not a human right.
Promoters of Ghana’s anti-LGBTQ+ Bill
The LGBTQ+ Bill before Parliament is titled: “The Promotion of Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values Bill 2021.” It is a Private Members’ Bill sponsored by a bipartisan group of lawmakers.
The eight MPs who sponsored the Bill are Sam Nartey George (MP, Ningo Prampram), Emmanuel Bedzrah (MP, Ho West) Della Adjoa Sowah (MP, Kpando), John Ntim Fordjour (MP, Assin South) – the sole NPP MP sponsoring the Bill.
The remaining sponsors are Alhassan Sayibu Suhuyini (MP, Tamale North), Helen Adjoa Ntoso (MP, Krachi West), Rita Naa Odoley Sowah (MP, La Dadekotopon) and Rockson-Nelson Dafeamekpor (MP, South Dayi).
Ghana’s pro-gay collective
A group of 18 academicians and human rights defenders have voiced strong opposition to the bill before Parliament, which is seeking to extensively criminalize the activities of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Intersex, LGBTQ+.
The group submitted a memorandum to Parliament seeking that the bill be rejected because it was largely unconstitutional and infringed on basic human rights.
Members of Parliament behind the bill, led by Ningo Prampram MP Sam Nartey George, have rubbished the memorandum and asserted that the bill will be passed into law because it has the support of the wider Ghanaian populace.