Anti-Gay bill punishment too harsh – NPP MP not happy

Collins Adomako-Mensah, who has been appointed Deputy Minister-designate for Energy, says the bill is not yet legitimized as it awaits President Nana Akufo-Addo’s assent.

To him, the President being an experienced and intelligent lawyer, will carefully peruse the bill and take the necessary decision on his role in promoting proper Ghanaian human sexual rights and family values.

“It (the bill) has reached the President. He has 14 days to take a decision whether to assent. If he feels there are some aspects (that need revision), he write back to Parliament for us to look at again,” he said.

On his position on the bill, Hon. Adomako-Mensah stated emphatically that he feels the punishment for offenders of the bill should not be a jail term.

Rather, he called for those who identify with the LGBTQ+ community to be given psychotherapy to help them turn away from this social aberration.

“The bill wasn’t as it has come out because some of things that were in the bill, some were very harsh. I’m sure we have been able to tweak it to where it is now. For me, I sided with Afenyo-Markin; I felt that the punishment should be more reformative,” he told host Kwami Sefa Kayi on Peace FM’s morning show “Kokrokoo”.

He proposed that the offenders should be subjected to community service and taken through a psychological treatment.

Anti-LGBTQ+ Bill

The anti-gay bill, originally known as Promotion of Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values bill, was passed by Parliament on Wednesday, February 27, 2024.

The bill, when assented to by the President, will prohibit the promotion, advocacy and all homosexual practices in the country.

Culprits will face a minimum jail term of 6 months to 5 years.

But the international community and some section of the Ghanaian populace have condemned the bill, describing it as a “nonsense bill” and “deeply harmful”.

The US ambassador to Ghana has implored the President not to assent to the bill and the United States government has warned there will be severe consequences for Ghana if the bill comes into effect.

The Finance Ministry of Ghana has also cautioned the President against the bill.

“In total, Ghana is likely to lose US$3.8 billion in World Bank Financing over the next five to six years. For 2024 Ghana will lose US$600 million Budget support and US$250 million for the Financial Stability Fund. This will negatively impact on Ghana’s foreign exchange reserves and exchange rate stability as these inflows are expected to shore the country’s reserve position”, the Finance Ministry warned in a statement.