Ghana’s parliament in session.
As Greece legalises gay-marriage, Ghana’s parliament has passed a new Bill that imposes a prison sentence of up to three years for anyone convicted of identifying as ‘LGBTQ+’.
The Ghanaian Human Sexual Rights and Family Values Bill also imposes a prison sentence of up to five years for the ‘wilful promotion, sponsorship, or support of LGBTQ+ activities’.
Sodomy and gross indecency are already punishable by up to three years in prison.
Lawmakers faced vocal opposition and heckling during their deliberations, but thwarted attempts to replace prison sentences with community service and counselling.
The Bill has the backing of Ghana’s two major political parties. It will come into effect only when President Nana Akufo-Addo signs it into law. But His Excellency is dithering, having come under immediate foreign pressure from the Democrat-run United States State Department.
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President Akufo-Addo responds
Ghana’s President, in his first comments on the bill’s passage, said Ghana will not ‘backslide on its human rights record’, and added that the bill had been challenged in the Supreme Court.
‘In the circumstances, it would be as well for all of us to hold our hands and await the decision of the Court before any action is taken,’ he added.
Mr. Akufo-Addo previously said that he would sign the Bill if the majority of Ghanaians wanted him to.
In addition, the Ghana Supreme Court has addressed the matter, in July 2023, as Reuters reported.. The Court dismissed a legal challenge seeking to block the Bill.
Finance ministry
Ghana’s finance ministry warned that implementing the law could derail Ghana from international funding, according to Reuters. Multilateral institutions include the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF).
According to a finance ministry memo, Ghana could lose $3.8bn in World Bank financing over the next five to six years if President Nana Akufo-Addo signs the bill into law.
This potentially includes an immediate loss of $600mn in budgetary support for 2024, and $250mn in a separate World Bank commitment, the ministry said.
‘This will negatively [affect] Ghana’s foreign exchange reserves and exchange rate stability, as these inflows are expected to shore the country’s reserve position,’ the memo said.
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Developing Nations Stand Against Sodomy! →
Africa is waking up
In Africa, sodomy is still illegal in 31 countries. Most countries have stood their ground against Western cultures. Uganda, for example, passed the anti-homosexuality Act in 2023. This is despite similar warnings over financial penalties. Similar laws are close to being approved in other African nations.
In Malawi, LGBT or its promotion is illegal. In Zambia, activists claim there’s a worrying rise in ‘homophobic feelings’ driven by laws, culture, and politics, making life difficult for the ‘LGBTI community’.
In Kenya, sodomy is a felony as per Section 162 of the Kenyan Penal Code, punishable by 21 years’ imprisonment. Gross indecency is also against the law.
A proposed Family Protection Bill aims to ban same-sex sexual conduct and marriage.
Amnesty International
Sodomy not a human right
Last month, Amnesty International warned that the bill “poses significant threats to the fundamental rights and freedoms” of LGBTQ+ people.
However, human Rights are as declared in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations in 1948. President Nana needs to recall there has never been any expansion of human rights to include a right to commit unnatural acts or to ‘change gender’.
Activists cite the so-called ‘Yogyakarta Principles’ to support alleged pro-gay rights. These were stitched together by a bunch of pro-gay activists in 2006 with extreme pro-trans stuff added in 2017. They pretend this document is an authentic human rights instrument, but despite being written in UN-treaty-language the ‘Principles’ are merely an activists’ wish-list with no legal force whatsoever.
Nevertheless, UN bodies are on the activists’ side. According to the head of the UN body tackling Aids, UNAIDS, Winnie Byanyima: ‘If Human Sexual rights and Ghanaian Family Values Bill (sic) becomes a law, it will exacerbate fear and hatred, could incite violence against fellow Ghanaian citizens, and will negatively impact on free speech, freedom of movement and freedom of association.’ Perhaps she has spent so much time in the UN she has forgotten her Ugandan roots.
Read our related stories here:
What are the Yogyakarta Principles: →
Controversy over “LGBT” agenda in Nigeria →
Sri Lanka may legalise unnatural acts →
Abortion: the UK’s Cultural Imperialism →
Plan International’s ‘Gender-queer’ Rwanda
Comprehensive Sexuality Education book →
Read and Pray
Romans 1:25-27; Ezekiel 16:49; Galatians 5:19; Colossians 3:5; Genesis 1:27-28; Hebrews 13:4.
Thank God for this new law to uphold righteousness in Ghana
Pray for the Ghanaian government and all the MPs who voted according to the law of God
Pray for the wisdom of God and for protection in the life and leadership of the Presidency.
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