A presidential staffer, Miracles Dennis Aboagye, has expressed concerns about the name-calling and labelling among Members of Parliament during discussions on the Anti-LGBTQ+ Bill.
Aboagye appealed to both the Majority and Minority caucuses to avoid politicizing the debate on LGBTQI.
The bill, currently under consideration, aims to criminalize LGBTQ+ and related activities, prohibit the promotion, advocacy, and dissemination of LGBTQ+ content, and provide protection and support for children and individuals involved in LGBTQ+ issues.
During an interview with Selorm Adonoo on Citi TV’s political show, “The Big Issue,” Miracles Dennis Aboagye further advised MPs to focus their efforts on scrutinizing the details of the bill rather than pointing fingers and engaging in accusatory remarks.
“I don’t know why we are fighting over this, I don’t know why anybody who is Anti-LGBTQ+ will be fighting a pro LGBTQ+. Let’s completely stop pointing accusing fingers at each other, since those involved don’t have marks on their faces indicating that they are gays or lesbians.
“They [MPs] should put sentiments away, let’s stop doing this for political expedience. We are going to pass it, can we look at the details of the law? There are a lot of grey-area clauses that we need to fine tune. You cannot tell who is gay or not by their appearance. We will not do our children good if we don’t stop pointing accusing fingers. We are doing it for political purposes unfortunately, it won’t help, it doesn’t help the conversation,” the presidential staffer advised.
He suggested to the state to be committed to the Bill no matter the cost that is associated with the legislation.
“This LGBTQ+ is not going to survive in this country, as a country we wouldn’t have committed any crime against humanity if it doesn’t survive. After all, there are so many things in this world that we don’t do, and there are so many things happening here in Ghana people don’t do. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with it.
“As a global community, we need to understand the differences and not to impose our economic power, political strength on everybody. That’s why I’m not surprised that this LGBTQ+ passed through parliament peacefully without any difficulty from anybody. I don’t foresee any such difficulty. This is legislation as a state we should be committed to, even if it’s going to come with some cost, because of the threat that comes with it.
He emphasized, “In Ghana, it’s madness, it’s either you are sick or mad and of course, madness is even sickness. You need to seek help either medical or phycological help. Nobody is fighting you with this law if you want to do it, but don’t splash it in our faces or indoctrinate us”.
During a debate on the bill, the MP for Ablekuma West, Ursula Owusu-Ekuful described the MP for Tamale Central, Ibrahim Murtala Muhammed as a ‘mad man’ for describing her as a lesbian.
