Professor of Finance at the University of Ghana Business School, Professor Godfred Bokpin, has expressed disappointment with the Ministry of Finance’s 5-page financial implications report presented to President Akufo-Addo, dissuading him from assenting to the anti-LGBTQ+ bill.
The Finance Ministry, in a financial assessment report to President Akufo-Addo, emphasised that Ghana could lose over US$3.8 billion in World Bank financing should the President assent to the Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values Bill 2024, also referred to as an anti-LGBTQ+ bill passed by Parliament on Wednesday, February 28.
Speaking on The Key Points on Saturday, March 9, Prof. Bokpin categorically stated that assenting to the anti-LGBTQ+ bill won’t have any effects on the agreement that Ghana had with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank.
“The evidence on the ground does not conclusively support the position of the Ministry of Finance and that is why one would be wondering why the Ministry of Finance would seek to put that fear in the President and put fear in Ghanaians,” he stated.
However, Prof. Bokpin stressed that aid around the world is declining and Ghana refusing to sign the anti-LGBTQ+ bill into law will not mean that the country will continuously receive aid from global bodies.
“In 2018, Ghana had already started discussing about developing our country to the point that is beyond it needing aid. We had a Ghana Beyond Aid charter…even without going into the substance of this, there is something as a country we ought to know, aid, whether we sign this bill or not aid sustainably is not going to be there. Aid has been declining, it doesn’t matter that Ghana is a donor-darling country; aid is no more there even on a sustainable basis,” Prof. Bokpin stated.
Meanwhile, President Akufo-Addo, in his initial comments to the diplomatic community on March 4, following the passage of the anti-LGBTQ+ bill, emphasised that Ghana will not “turn her back on her, hitherto, enviable, longstanding record on human rights observance and attachment to the rule of law.
“I want to assure you that no such back-sliding will be contemplated or occasioned,” President Akufo-Addo maintained.
The President further noted that, “I think it will serve little purpose to go, at this stage, into the details of the origin of this proposed law, which is yet to reach my desk.”
“But, suffice it to say, that I have learnt that, today, a challenge has been mounted at the Supreme Court by a concerned citizen to the constitutionality of the proposed legislation.
“In the circumstances, it would be, as well, for all of us to hold our hands, and await the decision of the Court before any action is taken.
The operation of the institutions of the Ghanaian state will determine the future trajectory of the rule of law and human rights compliance in our country,” said President Akufo-Addo.