Founder and leader of Ghana's Liberal Party, Percival Kofi Akpaloo, has accused persons supporting the Anti-LGBTQ+ Bill of inadvertently encouraging the engagement of the queer community.

The politician elaborated that Sam Nartey George, one of the key supporters of the Promotion of Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Cultural Values Bill, is employing a reverse psychology approach to persuade Ghanaians into thinking that the advocates are opposed to the LGBTQ+ community.

During an interview with Johnnie Hughes on 3FM Sunrise, Kofi Akpaloo claimed that the eight supporters of the anti-gay bill have been compromised with financial incentives to advance the activities of the LGBTQ+ community.

“They take money to come and promote something but to you, they start it from the opposite and when you look at it you say oh, these people are working for us. They are not working for you, they are rather promoting this,” he told Johnnie Hughes.

When questioned by Johnnie Hughes regarding whether Sam George, Ntim Fordjour, and other advocates of the anti-gay bill have received monetary compensation to promote the appeal of LGBTQ+ activities, Kofi Akpaloo confirmed their involvement in accepting such funds.

Additionally, the politician mentioned a billboard promoting LGBTQ+ tolerance that was installed along the Tema Motorway in June 2022, as well as Sam George's response to it.

He stated that Sam George’s action of sharing a picture of the billboard on social media promoted the LGBTQ+ community more than it had ever been in Ghana.

“Let me tell you. When a gentleman went to Tema Motorway and then he said to him, I didn’t see anything because I have been driving on that stretch. But he said, oh, they erected some billboard and then he took a picture and posted it on the internet and it went viral. So, who is promoting what? Are you okay? He could have brought the thing down. If you think you hate it, you could have brought the thing down.

“Maybe, you even erected it and then you went there because we didn’t know who erected it. So, you did it and you took a picture and made noise out of it. Such that you see, people didn’t even know the colours of the LGBTQ. Are you okay? People didn’t even know the colours but the mere fact that you picked the picture and you started sharing them, who is promoting what?” he quizzed.

Akpaloo in the same vein concurred with Johnnie Hughes’s analysis of the anti-gay sponsors using reverse psychology on Ghanaians saying “Exactly! Fantastic! You have given me the right word. …My brother, I don’t want to use some words but the thing is that we need to open our minds big, you know, sometimes, people play on our minds. You know, if you are there, you might think the person is fighting for you but it is the other way round.”

Background

The Promotion of Proper Sexual Human Rights and Ghanaian Family Values Bill was submitted to parliament by the Constitutional, Legal, and Parliamentary Affairs Committee on March 31, 2023.

The Bill is a Private Members' Bill sponsored by a bipartisan group of lawmakers and has passed the second reading in Parliament.

The eight MPs who sponsored the Bill are Sam Nartey George (MP, Ningo Prampram), Emmanuel Bedzrah (MP, Ho West) Della Adjoa Sowah (MP, Kpando), John Ntim Fordjour (MP, Assin South) – the sole NPP MP sponsoring the Bill.

The remaining sponsors are Alhassan Sayibu Suhuyini (MP, Tamale North), Helen Adjoa Ntoso (MP, Krachi West), Rita Naa Odoley Sowah (MP, La Dadekotopon) and Rockson-Nelson Dafeamekpor (MP, South Dayi).