UK MP Stephen O’Brien has expressed his objection to recent homophobic campaigns in Ghana during an official three-day visit to the country, last week.

O’Brien, a Conservative party politician and the UK Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for International Development, defended international human rights laws and discouraged continuing homophobic campaigns sparked by Ghana’s Western Region minister Paul Evans Aidoo.

Aidoo had been reported as requesting the blanket arrest of all homosexuals in a bid for social cleansing.

In an interview with Ghanaian newspaper The Daily Graphic, O’Brien stated: “I hope the recent comments I have heard about anti-gay sentiments will be put to one side and not pursued”.

He added: “It is vital that we do not allow the issue to be mired in political argument, and that is why we all have the responsibility to stand up for the international application of human rights”.

Last week, the Ghana News Agency reported how both the president of the Coalition of the Muslim Community of Ghana (COMOG) and sources from the Christian Council of Ghana urged politicians and the Ghanaian people to back the homophobic campaign.