Religious Leaders, CSOs Abandon Anti-Gay MPs

…No Solidarity or Support, But GPCC, Foh-Amoaning Say They Are In Touch

The Anchor’s continuous monitoring of the parliamentary primaries of political parties has revealed that the Members of Parliament (MPs) from the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) who initiated the private members bill to outlaw homosexuality are still being pursued in their respective constituencies with brute force, and have been left to their fate by religious leaders and those who hailed their action.

This paper is informed that, cash amounts said to be coming from the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender (LGBT) community are allegedly being thrown in the contests by some opponents of the MPs, seven of who come from the NDC minority.

The only governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) MP among the eight proponents of the Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values (PHSRGFV) bill, who is yet to know his fate, since his party is yet to open nomination for their primaries, is Rev. John Ntim Fordjour, the MP for Assin South constituency in Central Region.

But surprisingly, interest groups, such as religious organizations, the Christian and Muslim communities, as well as the traditional leaders who expressed total support for the birth of the bill, appear to have abandoned the MPs at a time they need them most.

The Catholic Bishops’ Conference, the Presbyterian Church, the Methodist and the Islamic faiths have all gone dead silent, and the fear is that these vocal advocates of the bill may have it tough in their re-election slated for May 13.

Leadership of GPCC during a visit to Information Minister, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah

First to express concern over the emergence of these gay sponsors weeks ago was the MP for the South Dayi constituency, Rockson-Nelson Dafeamekpor, who said they have become aware of the activities of the LGBT community and they are not taking it lightly.

The lawyer, who is also on the Committee on Constitutional, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs, in an interview with JoyNews, said, “It is not something we are taking it lightly. These people are on vendetta, they are on an agenda to ensure that this bill doesn’t succeed in Parliament. The people want us out of Parliament, we have evidence but we are speaking to the fact that there are people who are not sleeping.”

The eight MPs who initiated the Bill

His colleague and spokesperson of the anti-gay MPs pushing for the bill and MP for the Ningo-Prampram constituency, Samuel Nartey George, is also said to be facing stiff opposition from his side.

The outspoken politician, who went to the august House after the NDC lost power in 2016, is said to be not as resourceful as his opponents, and so there are fears that in the event that the delegates do not consider factors other than monetary gains, it may not go well for him.

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source: Anchorghana.com