Nowhere To Hide, As Speaker Announces Vote On Anti-Gay Bill Will Be Public

Ghanaian parliamentarians cannot hide under the cover of anonymity to vote on the controversial “Promotion of Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values Bill, 2021”, aka the anti-LGBTQ bill, as the Speaker of Parliament, Rt. Hon. Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin announces that voting on the bill will not be held in camera.

By this landmark move, every MP will publicly vote so that the 97% of Ghanaians who are strongly against the liberalization of the activities of Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals, Transgender and Queers (LBGTQ) can know where each legislator stands on the matter of whether homosexuality should be criminalized or not, as proposed in the new law.

This is also to know which of the MPs reportedly pocketed huge cash that the extremely powerful gay lobby groups had allegedly paid out to key decision-makers in the country, including the Jubilee House.

 “We will want to know where each Member of Parliament (MP) stands,” the Speake said in an address when Parliament reconvened on Tuesday, October 26, 2021.”

The announcement is believed to be a heart-sinking one for MPs of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) who many fear would have voted against the Bill if the vote were held in secret.

NPP MPs and some from the side of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) had cut a dubious image over the Bill, tiptoeing around the gay question and shadow boxing colleagues who are sponsoring and pushing the Bill at every turn.

These potential dissenting MPs are have reportedly been targeted with pressure from American and European governments to kick against the Bill and they have been wanting to please these foreign governments.

According to revelation, the sponsorship of the Private Member bill was initially done by seven NDC and seven NPP MPs. However, along the line, instruction “from above” came for the NPP MPs to stay away from the Bill and quickly, six of the NPP MPs chickened out leaving only Hon. John Ntim Fordjour.

Hon. Ntim Fordjour held on to his gun because he is a Reverend Minister and his faith as a Christian informed his defiance of the axis of homosexual pressure.

Even so, along the line, the NPP MPs had made hints of intent to vote against the Bill which seeks to criminalize gay sex, its funding and promotion. Majority Chief Whip, Frank Annoh-Dompreh, recently hinted that the NPP Majority are not against the bill in principle but had problems with aspects of it.

Annoh-Dompreh could however not tell anybody what exactly the problematic aspects of the bill is. This became a clear indication to Ghanaians that the NPP was angling to vote against the Bill and the clergy responded by marching to Parliament to give support to the Bill.

A secret vote was going to be the NPP MP’s only chance to stand with homosexuals and lesbians without showing their face to the public. But the Speaker of Parliament has made it clear that hanky-panky is not going to work. Everybody must vote in public.

Rt. Hon. Bagbin also warned the House will not tolerate any delays in the passage of the bill in a speech he gave after Parliament had resumed on Tuesday, October 26, 2021.

According to Bagbin, commonsense and the validity of Ghanaian culture will inform the passage of the Bill, even as the resultant law will also uphold the fundamental human rights for citizens, including that of the LGBTQ community as prescribed by the constitution.

“At the end of the day, the processes of the House will determine the outcome. And when that is done I’m very convinced that the law that will come out of all this will protect the culture and values of our people and the Ghanaian identity. It’s a law I believe that will also take into consideration, the human rights and freedoms that have been guaranteed under our constitution. And it’s a law that will take into consideration the richness of common sense – human decency, morality, fact, logic…”

Parliament resumed sitting Tuesday, October 26, 2021, after going on recess in July.

In addition to the so-called anti-gay Bill which is at the Committee level, other bills and papers have been tabled for consideration for the next nine weeks.

At least 56 bills are expected to be presented before the House including Affirmative Action Bill, 2021, Increase Secession Bill, 2021, Rent Bill, 2021, Aged Pensions Bill, 2021, and Small-Scale Mining Bill, 2021 among others.

Three Bills are currently at the committee level – the Office of the Special Prosecutor (Amendment) Bill, 2021 (Committee on Constitutional, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs), Criminal Offences (Amendment) Bill, 2021 (Committee on Constitutional, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs) and the Promotion of Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values Bill, 2021, Committee on Constitutional, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs).