Builsa South Member of Parliament Dr. Clement Apaak has told President Akufo-Addo that failure to sign the anti-lgbtqi bill will mean that he supports gay practices in Ghana.
He says the president must do the needful and assent to the bill.
“If the president fails to do the needful, Ghanaians are going to hold him accountable and the conclusion as far as the good people of Ghana are concerned is going to be simple, Akufo-Addo and the NPP presidential candidate, Bawumia are in favor of LGBTQI activities in the republic of Ghana,” he told TV3’s Komla Klutse in an interview in Parliament on Monday March 4 while reacting to the statement issued by the Finance Ministry on the financial implication of the bill.
The Ministry of Finance on Monday, March 4 pointed out dreadful implications of the president assenting to the anti-LGBTQ+ Bill.
In a brief on the implications of assenting to the Bill by President Akufo-Addo, the Ministry of Finance said the country stands to lose huge financial support from the Bretton Woods institutions.
“In total, Ghana is likely to lose US$3.8 billion in World Bank Financing over the next five to six years. For 2024, Ghana will lose US$600 million in budget support and US$250 million for the Financial Stability Fund. This will negatively impact Ghana’s foreign exchange reserves and exchange rate stability as these inflows are expected to shore up the country’s reserve position,” part of the brief cited by 3news.com reads.
The Ministry of Finance provided the details as follows:
- The expected US$300 million financing from the First Ghana Resilient Recovery Development Policy Operation (Budget Support) which is currently pending Parliamentary approval might not be disbursed by the Bank when it is approved by Parliament;
- On-going negotiations on the second Ghana Resilient Recovery Development Policy Operation (DPO) for budget support amounting to US$300 million may be suspended;
- On-going negotiations for US$250 million to support the Ghana Financial Stability Fund may be suspended;
- Disbursement of undisbursed amounts totaling US$2.1 billion for ongoing projects will be suspended; and
- Preparation of pipeline projects and declaration of effectiveness for two projects totaling US$900million may be suspended.
The Ministry cautioned that, “The potential loss of these financial resources will create a financing gap in the 2024 budget that the government must address through additional domestic revenue mobilisation and a significant reduction in expenditure. Failing this, Government’s ability to achieve the targets in the 2024 Budget will be undermined and the IMF-ECF Programme is likely to be derailed.”
Parliament on February 28 passed the Promotion of Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values Bill.
“3rd reading of the anti-lgbtq Bill passed by parliament, the bill has been passed,” TV3’s Parliamentary correspondent Komla Klutse reported.
Since then, some stakeholders have expressed disquiet about the passage of the Bill.