Anti-gay bill: Catholic Bishops kick against part of the bill

Reverend Kwasi Gyamfi wondered what was going to prevent homosexuals thrown into jail from continuing the practice in prison cells.

“We think that in the case of this particular law and the way it is being implemented, being placed in prison as the punishment that they have chosen, it is not going to solve the problem. Because you see if you round up same-sex people, and you know our prisons, they are going to end up in the same room, and what is going to prevent them from going through these activities in the prison?

“And you are not going to put them there forever because they are going to be there for three months to six months.

“And then they practice this and come out as more experts at it than when you sent them there. Then you release them back into society. So, what is going to happen?”

“That is why we were concerned about a punishment that will correct them, that will reform them. So if the government is going this way or if the parliament is going this way that is why we are suggesting that in the prison there, they should add more of the corrective and reformative measures,” he told Accra-based Citi FM on Thursday, February 29.

Earlier, the Majority Leader Afenyo-Markin insisted the custodial sentencing regime prescribed in the anti-gay bill was draconian.

To him, throwing persons into jail for homosexuality will not cure the problem.

Speaking in an interview with Berla Mundi on the New Day show on TV3 on Thursday, February 29, the Effutu lawmaker said “I am not here being an advocate for LGBTQ, I am looking at how we can reintegrate, how we can deal with the issue in a way that it will not get worse.

“Sodomy takes its root from the prisons, people get sodomized in our prison and in our cells. I am a practitioner of the law, I have done criminal cases for many years and sometimes when your clients are being sent to cells, the police themselves will tell you to make sure that he is not taken to Accra central, you ask why, and they tell you that this thing is done there. They tell us. Why are we pretending that we don’t know the everyday story on our streets?

“How does conviction and incarceration solve the problem? For me, on balance, since it is a behavioral challenge, engage some clinical psychologists on it. I engaged them prior to my views publicly and three of them I engaged, they told me clearly that when dealing with issues of behavioral addictions, you don’t play the hard ball to get solutions, do you incarcerate a drug addict? You create a space for rehabilitation, that rehabilitation will require some therapy or some procedure to get the person out of that behaviour, you don’t put the person in a situation where that behaviour will be reinforced.

“So you say the person is gay, or lesbian and you throw the person in jail, will you get the result that you want? I beg to differ.”

Ghana’s Parliament on Wednesday, February 28 passed the anti-LGBTQI bill after successfully going through all three reading stages.

One of the sponsors of the bill, Ningo-Prampram Lawmaker Samuel Nartey George told journalists after the passage that “We want to thank Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu who was very instrumental in passing this bill.”

“The house has stood united, an overwhelming majority of both sides of the house have supported this bill,” he added.

Prior to the passage, a human rights coalition, comprising of CDD Ghana, “the big 18” and others had called on President Akufo-Addo not to assent to the bill in its current state.

Prof Audrey Gadzekpo who is part of the group, at a press conference in Accra on Tuesday, February, 27, 2024 noted that the Bill will infringe on the fundamental human rights of many including the media as enshrined by the 1992 Constitution.

Professor Gadzekpo said “We observed that proposals to amend the Bill to substitute community services for in castration that was made by the Member of Parliament for Effutu, Mr. Afenyo-Markin was unfortunately rejected. Although his amendments were opposed by the majority of the house leading to a removal of the proposed amendments, we appreciate his effort aimed at reforming our justice system.”

On Wednesday, February 21, the then Deputy Majority Leader, Alexander Afenyo-Markin withdrew his amendments to the anti-LGBTIQ+ bill which seeks to impose a prison sentence paving way for the Bill to be considered for passage in the coming days.

However, the coalition of civil society organizations and interest groups maintained, the Bill must be relooked at.

“Ghana is a secular and multi-religious country with over 50 ethnic groups with different cultural practices and beliefs. Any attempt to create a single cultural value system for Ghana erases the beautiful cultural mosaic that makes us a unique people.” Professor Gadzekpo posited.

She further explained that “It is for this reason that the constitution abolishes all practices and laws detrimental to people’s health and well-being, even in the name of culture and tradition.”

The coalition noted that, the Bill would undermine the journalists’ ability to speak freely. The Bill in its current form states, “Any person that uses the media to broadcast and slash or advocate on LGBTQ+ topic faces a prison sentence of up to three years.”

The group believed that “this places a heavy restriction on journalists, bloggers, influencers and various social media users who produce or publish content, especially those who work in the field of human rights.”