The Member of Parliament for Ningo Prampram in the Greater Accra Region, Sam George Nettey, who is the main sponsor of the so-called anti-LGBTQ++ Bill in Parliament has totally humiliated CNN’s Larry Modowo when they locked horns on whether the bill was discriminatory or not.
Modowo, who appeared not to have properly researched the content of the bill, but chose an antagonistic stance against the bill was quickly shut down by Sam George in what has put Mr. Madowo at the butt end of ridicule on social media.
Modowo fired the first salvo by asking Sam George why he was pushing a bill that will “legalise hate and homophobia”, but was quickly tackles when George replied that “the bill to promote proper human sexual rights and Ghanaian family values.”
While reacting to claims that homosexuals face more threats to their lives in Ghana, Sam George reminded the CNN anchor that the United States (US) remains the most dangerous country for homosexuals
Modowo, quickly deflected that fact claiming the argument is not about the US. “This is not about the United States, this is about Ghana,” a desperate Madowo mumbled.
Meanwhile, the interview was a complete slap in the face of Larry Modowo, a Kenyan journalist with CNN, who had made several non-existent references to the bill.
For example, in the matter of jail terms that the Bill is proposing for persons who practice gayism, Mr. Modowo claimed that the Bill had proposed up to ten (10) years. But Sam George pointed out to him that he was peddling falsehood on such a major world news platform.
He points out that section 6 (2) prescribes a Fine of not less than 750 penalty units and not more than 5000 penalty units and or to a term of imprisonment of not less than 3 and not more than 5 years or both.
“So when you talk of 10 years imprisonment for persons engaged in homosexual act you are misleading the world and that’s unfortunate,” Sam George told him.
But Mr. Modowo also argued that even though Sam George says he is driven by the sanctity of Ghanaian culture as part of the reason for pushing the Bill, the gay people to be affected by the Bill are Ghanaians too. To this Sam George replied, “some of those who were involved in planning terror attacks in America were American citizens is it American culture to kill people?”
Madowo argued that provisions in the Bill making provision for conversion therapy for gays was dastardly torture, but Sam George countered that point as well, saying conversion therapy is just the same type of hormonal therapy that transgender people subject themselves to when doing sex change and that conversion therapy is simply a hormone therapy that reverts transgenders to the biological state that they were at birth.
Mr. Modowo made a mess of this argument as well, insisting that even though he was not a medical expert, conversion therapy was torture, while hormonal therapy is not.
To this, Sam Georg slammed him, saying: “If you are not a medical expert and I am saying to you, that we have spoken to experts here in Ghana and there is nothing different because conversion therapy is a hormonal treatment and I am saying to you that when individuals choose on their own volition to change their sex, they undergo hormonal treatment.”
Sam George also flashed a piece of medical data to validate his motivation for pushing the bill. According to him, the result of the sexual lifestyles of gays is a source of an explosion in HIV cases in Ghana and it has been burdening the government with bills of up to US$ 200 million to subsidise their treatments.
“The government of Ghana in 2020 spent US$200million, subsidizing the cost of anti-retroviral drugs for persons who have HIV/AIDS. The Ghana AIDS Commission is telling us that men having sex with men, MSMs, homosexuals, are leading the surge in HIV prevalence in Ghana,” Sam George explained.
“US$200million could have fixed the water problems in my Constituency,” he told the journalist in response.
Sam George who is the main sponsor of the Bill had been explaining the reasons he is pushing the Bill, stating that the people of his Constituency have made it clear to him that gay rights go against their culture and so he should take a stance against it on their behalf.
Eventually, all Madowo could venture is “Are you just a hateful person?”
This Sam George countered as well.
“That is a defeatist approach to ask me a question that is a defeatist line of questioning. That I am a hateful person,” he said he could not be described as such when the same bill made adequate room for respecting the rights of the LGBTQ activists,” Sam George answered.
Madowo gave a final push, “What would you do sir if your son or daughter was gay?” He said but was shut down on that one as well.
“Well, thankfully I have two sons and a daughter and none of them is gay.” When Madowo followed up that his question had not been answered, Sam George answered; “You are asking me to go into the realm of abstracts, I am a lawmaker and I deal with specifics,” Sam George also told Modowo, warning him and his media organization to stop importing controversial US values to Ghana.