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Opinions of Friday, 12 January 2018

Columnist: Ahanta Apemenyimheneba Kwofie III

Protecting lives and properties- rights of lesbians, gays and transgender

I am strictly against the practices of Lesbians, Gays and Transgenders per my upbringing, faith, culture, conscience, convictions and thoughts. Anytime you hear or see that I am involved in these immoral and ungodly practices, just arrest me by force, chain and send me to Pantang Psychiatric Hospital for mental check up. Luckily enough, I am staying close to Pantang Psychiatric Hospital so sending me there would not be that much difficult. It could be that I am losing it completely and you need to come to my aid to rescue me.

I mean everything that makes up my personality detest homosexuality or same sex marriages and all that it entails but I keep on asking myself whenever the rights of Lesbians, Gays and Transgenders comes into play, will I be able to stand the sight as a police officer to watch them being stone to death or being burnt alive without any warrant covering the mode in which they are to put to death? May be I would have done that or probably join people to kill or burn them alive but not when and after I have been trained as a police officer to protect lives and properties.

Following the fallout of the president's interview on Aljazeera, looks like the human rights watches have heightened their campaigns and seriously pushing for the legalisation of homosexuality or same sex marriages in Ghana. Whereas the fronts for campaigns for homosexuality or same sex marriages keeps increasing and their voices are becoming louder and clear, we have the lonely Lawyer Foh Amoaning as the ranger in the fight against homosexuality or same sex marriages in Ghana. At this time I am getting convinced that we are losing it because of the silent majority against the loud minority. What at all will Foh Amoaning alone do when the clergy have already liberalised their stance and have already started professing that we show love to them when they come to us? I personally do not hate them but would not want to do anything with them because bad company corrupt a good character and familiarity brings contempt.

There is a way that the constitution and our laws permit the killings of people who have been proving guilty of fellonious crime like murder, treason and high treason in this country and that is through the courts after the person has been given a fair hearing or trial by a court of competent jurisdiction and proven guilty. I am not a lawyer though but as at now, there is no law in Ghana that permits the attacks on these people that I personally think are wayward and sometimes think they deserves to be quarantined in order not to affect the larger society with their immoral acts and behaviours. The only law standing now is the penile-vagina penetration or the unatural carnal knowledge that has sparked debates among the learned colleagues and judges who interpretate the law.

It is therefore a crime to attack to attack people who are gays and lesbians or transgenders. I am yet to hear of a Ghanaian who has transgendered anyway.

The solution in my thinking lies in making laws like what the Ugandans have done which are quite clear on the definitions of lesbians and gays with stiffer punishments that they deserve if we really want to fight it from the law enforcements perspective.

In Uganda for instance you risk being jailed for life if you should be caught in acts of homosexuality. Despite the pressure put on Uganda by the Western propagandists and their mainstream media by declaring Uganda as a homophobic country, Uganda still persevered against foreign influence on homosexuality.

I do not call for death sentence or life imprisonment for people practicing homosexuality though.

The IGP has been bastardised and chastised for saying that the police will provide safe havens for lesbians and gays but I ask what do people expect him to say? Declare war on lesbians and gays? That is not his constitutional mandate.

The police service that he is the head has the mandate to protect lives and properties of manner of persons which includes lesbians and gays who for now are only suspicious characters in our society.

Just few of them have been caught red handed in the act so declaring war on people suspected to be lesbians and gays would only result in instance justice which is against the principles of rule of law and democracy we are currently practicing as a form of governance.

We should not forget forget that we recently celebrated 25th anniversary of solid democracy.

Rights of lesbians and gays in my opinion is the excess of democracy that conflict with cultural practices of Ghanaians and we must find ways and means to trim it down by making laws that are unambiguous.

America and Europe which are currently pushing for the legalisation of homosexuality or same sex marriages around the world were once conservative societies that viewed these practices as very abominable with high rates of capital punishments.

Sometimes ago in America and Europe, people were put to death for being gays and lesbians but today but today they are the same people pushing for it. Society is increasingly becoming liberal so moral fabrics of societies are fast decaying so we beware.

Lesbians and gays have always been fighting for their rights and we all know that it is an age old practices predating as far back the days of Abraham and his new Lot. We are told in the Bible that a whole twin city of Sodom and Gomorah were plunge into brimstones and firestones as a result of these practices of the people of the time.

Even when Lot opted to offer them his fairest daughters whom we are told were virgins but people were still interested in "back hole" males instead of the natural carnal knowledge of women

Even in Ghana, it is a common practice in our secondary schools particularly those with boarding facilities and most especially single sex schools. It is populary called "SUPI" and most of the people practicing lesbianism and gayism had the infection from their secondary schools.

It has been with us for ages.

I see homosexuality to be a threat to survival of mankind and how I wish there is a law for police to have them arrested, put before a court of competent jurisdiction and when proven guilty, the right punishment is meted out to them than society attacking and lynching them to death. That will amount to total lawlessness with a dire consequences.

Sociologists believe that homosexuality or same sex marriages will someday be legalised in Ghana but the question remains, must we allow everything in the name of democracy? Even though we might not be socially, culturally and religiously convinced about the practices of Lesbians, Gays and Transgenders, we cannot also attack them openly. That is criminal.