Letter to David Cameron

93 Waterhouse Street
Hemel Hempstead
Hp1 1ED

4th November 2011

Mr David Cameron The Prime Minister 10 Downing Street
London
SW1A 2AA
Dear Mr Cameron,

Let me take this opportunity to raise my concern on some of your statements during the meeting of the Commonwealth Heads of Government in Perth, Australia. You threatened to withdraw United Kingdom’s aid to governments that did not reform legislation banning homosexuality.

As a Christian and Ghanaian citizen living in the UK I have to disagree with you. I humbly ask of your moral right and justifications in even suggesting this to other countries including Ghana? I am sorry to say that you are out of order to call these countries to toe the line of the whims and caprices of your government. The last time I checked Ghana was sovereign state and the government was guided by the provisions of the 1992 Constitution and would work towards preserving and protecting the rights of the people as provided for under it. I believe the Ghana Constitution has adequate provisions on freedoms and rights of the people and they would be guided by it.

Ghana and for other people who have moral dignity and values in Africa cannot turn their values upside down just for some pittance that some countries including the UK will give us. Despite the monetary support given to the Ghana government by the UK, it still gives you no right to interfere in how Ghanaians run their affairs. If you want to carry out your threat of withholding aid to countries which fail to change their laws to respect the rights of gays so be it.

As a Christian, I challenge my president, who is a self-claimed devoted Christian to, for the first time be bold and tell your government we don’t do that in our country especially since it does not conform to his Christian values. Christianity was ‘imposed’ on Africans by some Europeans missionaries who taught my forefathers the rights and wrongs using the bible as a guide. The same doctrines were passed on to me which I gladly accepted, so if the Prime Minister wants to tell me and the whole world what is written in the bible are all lies and wants to change some of the passages, you should come out boldly and say it. But if you describe himself as a Christian a little reminder will do:

“Do not practice homosexuality, having sex with another man as with a woman. It is a detestable sin.” (Leviticus 18:22)

“And if anyone takes words away from this book of prophecy, God will take away from him his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book.”(Revelation 22:19)

Your call of nations receiving UK aid to adhere to proper human rights is a non-starter and I will refer you to a South African Statesman Paul Kruger who once said, “this is my country and these are my laws, those who will not obey them should leave my country”, so if giving in to homosexuality is the only condition for the UK to give Ghana aid, you can as well keep it. Human right where criminal terrorists could not be removed from the UK for fear of their lives is not a proper human right, is it? Theresa May called for a return to sanity and you wanted to restore common sense. Well, Mr PM some cultures and values contain a series of non-negotiable assertion about the rights of the individuals accompany by their responsibilities.

May I ask you, Mr Prime Minister, why did you want to end “this human right insanity” by setting up a commission to draw up a British Bill of Rights to replace the Human Rights Acts? Are you tired of them?

Generally, I will describe your comments as smacking of racism. This is a pure political racism and a very big insult to the intelligence of Ghanaians and Africans as a whole. It is sad and disappointing to witness the bad treatment meted out to some African states by some western counterparts, the recent interference in Libya by NATO forces being an example.

I vividly remember the hell I went through just to secure a UK visa, all because of values, laws and customs of the UK. I have become a law abiding resident in the UK. You see, Mr Prime Minister, every country including the UK has laws, custom and culture in order to protect and guide their citizens. Ghana is one of them.

My little research revealed that the British government has extensive relationship with Saudi Arabia and China, countries that are involved in inhuman acts that the international community consider reprehensible yet UK have not severed off relationship with them because of monetary gains and also because UK sell arms to them. Mr Prime Minister I will urge you to publicly tell them off on the same issue. Tell the Chinese, the UAE and all the Middle East Muslim countries what you just told the Africans.

I urged all African states to stand up against any despicable or racist conduct from the West towards them and since every country has its own peculiar beliefs, culture and heritage, it is important to maintain one’s sovereignty.

I don’t blame you Mr Prime Minister! Our politicians have let us down. Overt corruption from some people we voted into power has caused poverty and hardship across the African continent. However I believe that the Ghanaian economy has enough resources that if properly managed should be enough to feed us without any aid from Britain. The time has come for Africans to rise up and protect our rights, culture and dignity as a people.

It is interesting to say that Britain obtains substantial advantage from Africa and so if Africa stands up and fights as a whole against this oppressive conduct, Britain will not have its way. This is a fine opportunity for Ghana and other African countries to wean themselves off foreign aid. Ghana can survive without depending on aid from Britain and the Ghana government will not kowtow to UK’s threats.

Thank you for taking time to read my letter.

Yours faithfully


Barima Kwaku Abronoma