Some Members of Parliament (MP) behind the Promotion of Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values Bill, otherwise known as Ghana’s anti-LGBTQ+ Bill, have disclosed that LGBTQ+ activists are trying to sabotage them.They claim these LGBTQ+ allies are assiduously working behind the scenes to ensure that they lose their seats so that the Bill does not materialise into Law.

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   In an interview, one of the MPs, Rockson Dafeamkpor, noted that: “The people want us out of Parliament, we have evidence, but we are speaking to the fact that these are people who are not sleeping. It is not something we are taking lightly. These people are on a vendetta, they are on an agenda to ensure that this bill doesn’t succeed in Parliament.

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”He made the remarks on JoyNews during an interaction on the LGBTQ+ subject on Wednesday, March 30, 2023. He also appealed to his fellow MPs to support the Bill.Parliament is yet to decide on the Promotion of Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values Bill laid before the House.

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As it stands, the constitutional and legal affairs committee is anticipated to report to parliament on their findings and ask for permission to debate the anti-LGBT bill's provisions.The bill has also been modified such that the section it which criminalises advocacy for LGBTQ issues has been scrapped. The penalty has also been reduced from 5 years to 3 years.

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Explaining why the committee took this stance, ranking member of the committee, Bernard Ahiafor noted that the changes were made to align the bill with the Constitution and other existing laws.He made the remarks during an interaction on JoyNews’ UpFront on Wednesday, March 29, 2023.

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“The criminal and other offences are 3 years …the law as the committee proposes is that the aspect of the rendition in the earlier bill must be taken off,” he said.Adding his voice to the discourse, the spokesperson of the National Chief Imam, Sheikh Aremeyaw Shaibu, said President Akufo-Addo was not forthright with his recent comments on the matter.

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He said the failure of President Akufo-Addo to declare his stance on the subject is very disturbing. “The President was over-cautious in trying to talk about it as if not wanting to offend a certain force that is coming from somewhere because I have heard the president speak forthrightly with a strong tone about certain things like some of his encounters with Macron,” he said.

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 However, Country Director of Amnesty International Genevieve Partington contended that the bill in its current form is discriminatory and will promote hate crime when passed.Justifying her claim, she noted that the passage of the bill will legitimise the attack, harassment, and persecution of LGBT people in the country, adding that people perceived to be gay or lesbian could easily fall victim to mob justice as a result of the anti-gay

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bill.

promotes hate crime. Let me give you an example, if people are perceived to be lesbian or gay, let’s just say me, I’m in a hotel room with another lady and someone decides to call and suspect that I am a lesbian, you know, it can promote hate crime.“Because what if I am not and just as we catch thieves in Ghana, and we do instant justice and mob action, this can also increase mob action

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towards this community, so this is one thing I feel is not good,” she explained.

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