“There is a total blackout on that. As a country, we would not tolerate such a process. Because they are satisfied, they are thinking about these things. We [as a country], are looking at building roads and other basic survival issues. Even food and all these things, we are still thinking about it. The LGBQTI+ is a total no for us.”
The Upper East Regional Chairman for the NPP, Anthony Namoo, made these statements when he spoke to A1 Radio’s Mark Smith about the push against the passage of the anti-gay bill sponsored by Minority MP Sam George.
It will be recalled that President Akufo Addo’s response to the bill came under strong scrutiny within the country. Many thought the President should have publicly and firmly denounced the act and supported the bill when comments were made by Kamala Harris, the Vice President of the United States of America, during her visit to the country.
Lawyer Namoo explained that the president’s position would not have allowed him to make such open and firm statements.
“You have to understand the difficulty the President is in. The president is totally against it. The point is that he was a foreign minister. He’s chaired the UN’s Security Council before. We can say so [denounce it publicly], but the president should be a bit diplomatic. I can tell you that the president is a conservative person. There is no way the president would allow this,” he said.
Lawyer Namoo explained that, while trying to curb the act, Parliament should ensure that the rights of the said individuals are protected. He also warned that there would be legal sanctions for persons who take it upon themselves to harass or harm members of the LGBTQI+ community.
“In that bill, if you take the law into your own hands to either lynch a gay person or whatever, there are penalties attached. So to that extent, it is something we should frown upon, but we should not take the law into our own hands.”
“It is a disease we hope should not catch on here. I am worried for my children,” he added.
Source: A1radioonline.com|101.1MHz|Mark Kwasi Ahumah Smith|Ghana
