NPP Majority In Parliament Angling To Vote Against Anti-Gay Bill

The lack of enthusiasm and support for the anti-gay Bill before Parliament from the Majority is reportedly due to the fact that the New Patriotic Party (NPP) MPs are waiting to vote against the bill when it is tabled. 

Majority Chief Whip, Frank Annoh-Dompreh, has created a window into the thinking of the NPP MPs, by explaining that they are not actively pushing for the passage of the bill because the Majority thinks the legislation infringes on the “rights and freedoms” of Ghanaians.

“It’s unfortunate the LGBTQ bill is being politicised. As the majority caucus in Parliament, we agree in principle that legislation that protects Ghanaian values in all areas of life must be supported. However, the bill, as it is now, is defective. We need to fine-tune it to ensure that it maximises the protection of rights and freedoms in consonance with democratic principles as we have practised uninterrupted for over three decades,” the Nsawam Adoagyir MP tweeted Saturday.

The tweet is a clear bump for mostly Minority MPs sponsoring the Bill to take note of.

Out of the eight MPs supporting the private Member Bill sponsored by NDC MP for Ningo Prampram, Sam George, only one, John Ntim Fordjour, is from the Majority side, who has been rather silent over the proposed law.

Frank Annoh-Dompre’s tweet was in response to concern by Deputy General Secretary of the governing party, Nana Obiri Boahene, that the NPP MPs are not showing support for the bill.

According to Nana Obiri Boahene, the gay sexual lifestyle is embarrassing, insulting, and nauseating and wants the majority of NPP MPs to stand up against it. But the NPP MPs have mostly shied from taking a bold stance.

The bill is currently before Parliament’s Constitutional, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Committee, receiving memoranda from the general public. But it has attracted resistance from a group of academics and lawyers including Akoto Ampaw, Professor H. Kwasi Prempeh, Professor Audrey Gadzekpo and Prof. Raymond Atuguba, who have claimed that the Bill if passed will make devalue human rights in the country.