Godfred Yeboah Dame, Attorney General and Minister of Justice, has said that individuals who are opposed to the actions of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQI) people have the right to express their concerns.
Speaking in an interview on Citi TV’s Point of View program with Bernard Avle, the Attorney General explained that individuals who oppose the activities of LGBTQI should feel free to voice out their concerns in the same way advocates of LGBTQ promote their activities.
Mr. Godfred Dame said that the government’s official position on LGBTQI is consistent with constitutional laws prohibiting such acts, which are being implemented.
“Regarding the state’s position on LGBTQI, it is the laws of Ghana, which are being enforced, beyond that I am not aware of a situation whereby the state has meted out violence or the state has supported any infliction of violence against any person engaged in the activity.”
“The right to engage in LGBTQI activity which of course may be in the exercise of somebody’s fundamental human rights of free expression should also warrant that when a person has opposed the practice, that person should also be free to engage in the activity. So I deplore the situation where persons engaged in anti-LGBT activity are perceived to be backward. Once you have the right to advocate for the practice, someone also has the right to advocate against the practice.”
Speaking on the back of the arrest and subsequent granting of bail for some 21 persons who were arrested for unlawful assembly to promote LGBTQI activities, Mr. Dame explained that, the arrest made was not in relation to the sexuality of the suspects, but rather because they had converged from different parts of the country and had no reasons for their assembly.
He was of the view that the persons involved were arrested and charged with the offence of “unlawful assembly”.
Mr. Godfred Dame also explained that the decision to refuse the bail was entirely the discretion of the judge, as the Attorney General department’s representative on the case did not even oppose the bail during the hearing.
“First and foremost, I am not aware that the individuals detained in Ho were doing anything LGBT-related. What I am aware of, is that they were charged with the offence of unlawful assembly, and they were denied bail because the people had congregated, from various parts of the country. They hailed from various parts of the country; some from Bawku, Takoradi, the Eastern Region and they all congregated in Ho, and they couldn’t explain why they were in the room in the hotel, and they couldn’t explain the purpose and the reason why they were there.”
‘We did not infringe on the rights of 21 LGBTQI activists’ – State Attorney
The prosecutor in charge of the case has previously dismissed claims that the state infringed on the rights of the 21 people on trial for promoting LGBTQI activities in Ho, Volta Region.
The 21 had been detained in Ho since their arrest on May 21, 2021, but were granted bail by the Ho High Court 2 on Friday, June 11, after numerous petitions had been rejected.
Lawyers for the 21 have accused the state of violating their clients’ rights, while State Attorney Moses Ayini Asampua claimed they were handled fairly at the time.
Ghana’s LGBTQI rights
Some people in Ghana have asked for a special legislation to make homosexuality a crime.
Although there are provisions in the Criminal Code that allow a homosexual to be punished, particularly for having intercourse with a partner, many people believe that a separate legislation is needed to make gay partnerships unlawful.
Others have asked for a revision of Ghana’s laws to make them more tolerant of minority groups, citing the fact that several nations have decriminalized homosexuality.
Prof. Mike Oquaye, the then Speaker of Ghana’s Parliament, cautioned the World Bank from including LGBT restrictions in economic aid to Ghana in February 2020.
Homosexuality won’t be legalized under Nana Addo – Presidency
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-approval Addo’s of same-sex weddings in Ghana was denied by the administration in April 2018.
President Akufo-Addo has said that such a relationship would not be legalized in Ghana, according to a statement from the administration.
Source: CITINEWSROOM
