There was no doubt about Bawumia’s position on LGBTQI – Ahiagbah

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Richard Ahiagbah
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The Director of Communications of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Richard Ahiagbah, has said that the position of Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia on LGBTQI practices was obvious.

He said there was no doubt about the position of the flagbearer of the NPP.

“There was no doubt about his position, to begin with, but Bawumia makes the point for good measure. Let’s move on,” he wrote on X in reaction to the rejection of gay practices by the Vice President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia.

Dr. Bawumia, in his Eid message on Thursday, April 11, noted, “It is important to note our cultural, societal and norms, as well as our values as Ghanaians frown on same-sex marriage.”

Parliament unanimously passed the Human Sexual Rights and Family Values Bill 2024, which is commonly referred to as an anti-LGBTQ+ bill, but it has yet to be assented into law.

The bill criminalises anti-LGBTQ+ activities with a minimum of three months and a maximum of 10 years for individuals found guilty of LGBTQ+ practices prohibited under the law.

Currently, two independent applications for injunction orders have been filed at the Supreme Court, challenging, among other things, the constitutionality of the controversial bill.

Meanwhile, a Deputy General Secretary of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), responding to the Vice President’s position, challenged him to either resign from his office or ask the President to sign the bill.

READ ALSO: Bawumia rejects LGBTQ emphatically in Eid message

Mustapha Gbande said, “We dare Vice President Dr. Bawumia if he disagrees with what President Akufo-Addo is doing now, he should man up and resign as vice president so that we can take him seriously.”

Several religious bodies have also called on the President to assent to the bill.

But President Akufo-Addo has urged Ghanaians to exercise patience as the country awaits the outcome of the Supreme Court case to “decide the next line of action.”

 

In a meeting with the diplomatic community on March 4, President Akufo-Addo stressed 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,” said the President.

The apex court, however, has yet to commence hearing the injunction applications.