The leadership of the Coalition of Muslim Organisations of Ghana (COMOG), has called on President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and Parliament to ensure the passage of the Proper Human Rights and Ghanaian Family Values Bill into law.
It said the bill “if passed will bring finality to the lingering issues of LGBTQI in Ghana and it will later present a petition to Parliament on the issue”.
The Coalition noted that it was ready and willing to do everything possible to ensure that the LGBTQI+ Bill was passed.
Speaking at a press conference in Accra, Prince Zakaria Moses, spokesperson for the coalition, observed thattheir collective failure to pass the LGBTQI+ Bill of 2021 would plunge the Ghanaian population into yet another health and security threat through the activities of the LGBTQI+ community.
“It is our considered view based on the foregoing arguments that LGBTQI+ activities are lifestyle choices and personal practices which cannot be equated as rights or accorded the status of rights, and we fully endorse the LGBTQI+ Bill 2021 which is currently before Parliament and encourage the House and President Akufo-Addo to swiftly pass and assent to the bill respectively,” he proffered.
Similarly, some Christian leaders have submitted a memorandum to Parliament on the Proper Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values Bill which included the Church of Pentecost and its Chairman, Apostle Eric Nyamekye, as well as Apostle Dr. Aaron Ami-Narh, President of the Apostolic Church, Ghana, were part of the delegation that gathered 15,000 signatures to express strong support for the bill.
The memorandum was presented to the Constitutional, Legal, and Parliamentary Affairs ofParliament’s Committee on October 6, 2021 and the Church of Pentecost has also vowed to campaign vigorously against parliamentarians should they not see to it that the Bill is passed into law with immediate effect.
The Church believes Members of Parliament (MPs) owe the citizenry moral duty to pass laws in interest of majority, hence, the Proper Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values Bill brought before the House must be treated with urgency it deserves.
About 20 members of Parliament have initiated processes to have a law passed to criminalise LGBTQ+ activities and advocacy and also jail LGBTQ+ people, their sympathizers, and funders.