Mr Percival Kofi Akpaloo, the flagbearer for the Liberal Party of Ghana (LPG) and a Presidential Candidate for Election 2020 , says the ‘Promotion Of Proper Human Sexual Rights And Ghanaian Family Values Bill, 2021’ in parliament, which seeks to criminalize LGBTQ is a fruitless journey.
The ‘Promotion Of Proper Human Sexual Rights And Ghanaian Family Values Bill, 2021’, which is yet to be considered by parliament, seeks to unequivocally criminalize LGBTQI+ activities.
According to the bill, people of the same sex who engage in sexual intercourse are “liable on summary conviction to a fine of not less than seven hundred and fifty penalty units and not more than five thousand penalty units, or to a term of imprisonment of not less than three years and not more than five years or both.”
The bill also proposes that a person who, by use of media, technological platform, technological account or any other means, produces, procures, markets, broadcasts, disseminates, publishes or distributes a material for purposes of promoting an activity prohibited under the Bill, or a person uses an electronic device, the Internet service, a film, or any other device capable of electronic storage or transmission to produce, procure, market, broadcast, disseminate, publishes or distribute a material for purposes of promoting an activity prohibited under the Bill, commits an offence and is liable on summary conviction to a term of imprisonment of not less than five years and not more than ten years.
Read Also: “Treat the public with respect” – IGP to police officers
Speaking on the bill with host of Atinka FM’s AM Drive, Kaakyire Ofori Ayim, Kofi Akpaloo, stated that jailing these LQBTG when found culpable will not eradicate the act from the country.
He added that the LGBTQ community has been in Ghana for decades and it will take more than a bill seeking to criminalize the act to end it.
“If the country cuts down on prison sentencing of some minor crimes, which increases the number of people going to prisons, it may help reduce people from getting into LGBTQI act. As a leader of a liberal party, I believe everyone’s fundamental human rights must be respected and, therefore, I’m against the portion of the bill suggesting a jail term for people advocating and exhibiting the LGBTQI+ act,” Kofi Apkaloo told Kaakyire Ofori Ayim.
Similarly, a group of Professors and human right activists have opposed the bill, describing it as undemocratic.
The group says the Promotion of Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values Bill, when passed into law, would erode a raft of fundamental human rights, as enshrined in the 1992 Constitution.
The group who are against the passage of the bill include Mr Akoto Ampaw; author, scholar and former Director of the UN Economic Commission for Africa, Prof. Emerita Takyiwaa Manuh; a communications and media expert, Prof. Kwame Karikari; the Dean of the University of Ghana (Legon) School of Law, Prof. Raymond Atuguba, and a former Dean of the University of Ghana School of Information and Communication Studies, Prof. Audrey Gadzekpo.
Ghana | Atinkaonline.com | Vivian Adu Boatemaa | [email protected]
