-As Akufo Addo’s Personal Lawyer Leads Pro-Gay Movement.
The clergy has sent a strong warning to Ghana’s two main political parties that it will cause its millions of worshippers to vote against any of them that would promote advocacy for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer (LGBTQ+) in Ghana.
The Church of Pentecost, the Catholic Bishops and other evangelicals as well as other religious groups have backed the controversial bill to criminalise LGBTQ++ advocacy in Ghana: the Promotion of Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values Bill.
The National Chairman of the Church of Pentecost, Apostle Eric Nyamekye, says his outfit will vote out any political party that stands against the passage of the bill.
“We’re going to cause people to come onto the street, and we’re going to warn any government that if you vote against this bill, we will vote you out, that is it. There’s no room for neutrality,” he told journalists.
Catholic Bishops of Ghana have also endorsed the bill currently before Parliament, saying LGBTQ++ promotion is “morally unacceptable”.
In a statement, the Catholic Church, which boasts of having 13.1% of the country’s population as members, said it finds it necessary to state its position formally on the controversial issue of LGBTQ+.
“As a Church, we want this abominable practice made illegal in our country… The Bible, which is foundational to Christian beliefs and practices, condemns the practice,” the Catholic Bishops said.
A few years ago, when he was grilled in an interview with Aljazeera in 2017, President Akufo Addo gave a cryptic message that critics claim is a call to action that has inspired the LGBTQ++ in Ghana to up their ante.
When asked if his government will liberalise the country for LGBTQ++ activities, he said: “I don’t believe in Ghana, so far, a sufficiently strong coalition has emerged which is having an impact on public opinion to say change it, let’s now have a new paradigm in Ghana…I think that it is something that is bound to happen.”
Shortly after his message on the international media platform, he was pressured in Ghana to declare his stance on LGBTQ++ and he vehemently stated that he will not legalise LGBTQ++ activities in Ghana, “not under my watch” he said, in what critics regard as a double talk.
This view that President Akufo Addo may not be strongly opposed to LGBTQ++ liberalisation in Ghana as he says in public speeches, his personal lawyer and close friend, Akoto Ampaw is leading a small band of middle-class pro-LGBTQ++ advocates.
But Akoto Ampaw, who appears to be angling for a legalisation of homosexuality and lesbianism, marshalled a band of 18 Ghanaian intellectuals and middle-class activists against against the anti-LGBTQ++ bill in Parliament.
Last week Friday, he and his colleagues marched to the legislative house to submit a memo seeking to torpedo the bill.
n addition to Lawyer Akoto Ampaw, Professor Emerita Takyiwaa Manuh also signed the memorandum.
His band of pro-LGBTQ++ advocates include Professor Kwame KariKari, Professor Kofi Gyimah-Boadi, Professor Audrey Gadzekpo, Dr. Rose Kutin-Mensah, Dr. Yao Graham, Professor Dzodzi Tsikata and Professor H. Kwasi Prempeh.
The rest are Mr. Kwasi Adu-Amankwah, Dr. Kojo Asante, Mr. Kofi Ofei-Nkansah, Akunu Dake, Tetteh Homerku-Adjjei and Professor Raymond Atuguba.
According to them, the bill’s purported premise on religious beliefs is skewed and dangerous claiming that even Jesus Christ would have embraced homosexuals and lesbians.
But the Christian clerics disagree, saying LGBTQ++ was a morally bankrupt orientation that they will harshly resist.