Signing anti-gay bill will be an affront to Akufo-Addo’s human rights records – Director LGBT+ community

The Director of the LGBTQ+ Community in Ghana, Alex Kofi Donkor, has stated that it will be an affront to President Akufo-Addo if he should sign the anti-gay bill into law.

Speaking on Starr Today with Joshua Nana Kwame Ayira, the Director for the LGBTQ+ Community in Ghana stated that signing the bill will also be against Ghana’s constitution.

“We are hoping that the president does not assent to the bill. If the president assents to the bill, it will be an affront on his career as a human rights lawyer. This bill is an affront to the human rights laws, it is an affront to our constitution, it is an affront to our being as Ghanaians, our democracy, our society and all of that,” Donkor stated.

According to him, the family system in Ghana allows members to go their way with tolerance hence the Bill should not be accepted by the president.

“It is an affront to us as a country to what we believe in, a country that accepts tolerance in diverse ways and accepts people as who they are. A family that believes in the extended system as well as the nuclear family system. A family where individuals are taught how human beings are thought to grow in their field,” he added.

Background

After three years of deliberation, parliament has approved the highly contentious Anti-LGBT+ bill.

Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, initiated a voice vote on the bill after the third reading.

When he posed the question, “Those in favor that the Human Sexual Rights and Family Values bill, 2021, be taken through the third reading say I,” numerous MPs voiced their support.

However, there was no response when the speaker called for those in opposition to speak up. With no opposition voiced, Speaker Bagbin declared the bill passed.

The bill which was passed on Wednesday, February 28, will only take effect if President Akufo-Addo signs it into law.

During the last parliamentary session on the bill, the then Deputy Majority Leader, now Majority Leader, Alexander Kwamina Afenyo-Markin, attempted to amend it to replace prison sentences with community service and counselling.