The Ghana Catholic Bishops Conference has said that the Church recognizes that the State has a duty to carry out in the matter of homosexuality.
With regard to homosexual acts, the Catholic Bishops said, that while the Church speaks of them as sins, the State does not use such language.
For the State, whose duty it is to enact laws to govern the citizenry, the language used is that of crime. What then is a crime? ‘Crime’ may be defined as an action or omission, which constitutes an offence and is usually deemed socially harmful or dangerous and is punishable by law, the Conference explained.
In light of this definition, they added, homosexual acts from the point of view of the State may be criminal in nature.
“For example, if a homosexual man rapes a teenage boy, that would be deemed a criminal offence, just as the same act carried out by a heterosexual man on a teenage girl would be deemed a criminal offence. In other words, these acts are not in the interest of the nation and, indeed, harm the nation. For this reason, there must be punitive measures to deal with such situations,” a statement issued by the President of the Ghana Catholic Bishops Conference Most Rev. Mathew Kwasi Gyamfi said.
The statement further explained that the lawmakers may decide that a man marrying a man or a woman marrying a woman is not in the interest of the nation since, in the long term, it will have an effect on the size of the population of our country if many people do this.
In such a case, it said, the lawmakers will be within their rights to enact laws against that. In such cases, it will be right for the lawmakers to criminalize such homosexual actions by punitive measures.
“Thus, we can say that while it is not right to criminalize homosexuals just for being homosexuals, the State is within its right to criminalize the acts of homosexuals in the interest of the nation. In this connection, we can state that the draft bill on “Promotion of Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values 2021” currently in Parliament is in the right direction, as it seeks to enact laws against criminal homosexual acts.
“The bill aims to provide for proper human sexual rights and Ghanaian family values, proscribe LGBTQ+ and related activities, and provide for the protection of children, persons who are victims or accused of LGBTTQQIAAP+ and related activities, and other persons. We commend our law makers for the effort and time spent on this bill. It is our hope that, when passed into law, it will indeed promote proper human sexual rights and authentic Ghanaian family values which are under threat from homosexual acts. It is also the hope of the Church that the bill will impose punitive measures that are commensurate with the crimes committed,” it said.
The Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, has assured that the bill on the Promotion of Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values will be passed before the house goes on recess for the festive holidays.
On Wednesday, the sponsors of the Anti-Gay bill accused the Majority in Parliament of sabotaging the passage of the bill after the First Deputy Speaker declined a request for the bill to be taken at the consideration stage.
“I know that nobody in this House is opposed to the bill and I know the bill will see the light of day before we rise because the people of Ghana are expecting us to pass the bill before we go on recess. Failure to do so will have serious consequences on members as they want to advance in their political careers,” he said while reacting to the banter that occurred between Ningo Pramparm Samuel Nartey George (Sam George) and Chairman of the Constitutional, Legal, and Parliamentary Affairs Committee in Parliament, Kwame Anyimadu-Antwi on the bill.
Mr Anyimadu-Kwame denied claims by Sam George that the Majority in Parliament is fighting the Promotion of Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values Bill, popularly known as the anti-gay bill.
He said leadership of Parliament has not drawn his attention that the committee should go ahead and do consideration on this bill.
“The bill has been here, and we have not prosecuted it because the religious bodies came to the Speaker because it got to a point that we were looking at the rehabilitation of people that will fall as victims of the LGBTQ+ and the Speaker suggested that we meet with the religious bodies to see how best we can incorporate that into the bill and our initial response was that it may not be sustainable, but I discussed it with the Ranking Member, who said that we have to do one workshop and iron out quizzes and last week, I went to the Speaker’s office, and he asked me on this bill and I told him that we need to do something on this bill before we can go ahead and do it or prosecute it.
“Leadership has not drawn my attention that we should go ahead and do consideration on this bill and at any rate, this is not the only bill at the consideration stage. The Intestate Succession Bill has also been there and nobody thinks of prosecuting it, and then we have the Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values Bill on page 24 and when the Speaker called me. If we start today, there is no way we can finish these amendments before this meeting ends, so why should I start it?” He told journalists while responding to Sam George who is one of the sponsors of the Anti-Gay Bill who had indicated that the leadership of the Majority in Parliament reached out to sponsors of the bill to step it down.
The opposition lawmaker was livid over the inability of Parliament to consider the bill on Wednesday, December 6 as scheduled.
He accused Mr Ayimadu-Antwi of refusing to show up in Parliament to allow for the process to be moved to take the bill.
Speaking to journalists in Parliament, the Ningo Prampram lawmaker said “As sponsors of the bill, we are livid and angry at the conduct in the chamber today. This morning Speaker Alban Bagbin called and said to all of us as sponsors that the consideration of the amendment was going to be taken today. When we got to Parliament he said again to indicate that he wanted for all of us to be present.
“Since 8 AM this morning, we have been calling the chairman of the committee but he refuses to pick up the call, he is not returning the call. The ranking member of the committee Bernard Ahiafor has been present in Parliament since 10 AM and was in the chamber when the mace came in with the speaker ready for us to handle this. The speaker came in earlier this morning and indicated that he was going to take only one urgent question and then take the laying of papers and that it was a very important bill that had to be dealt with.
“The Speaker indicated that he also had a meeting he had to attend. When the speaker called the first Deputy Speaker Joseph Osei Owusu to take the chair he indicated to him to finish with questioning and proceed to take our bill, the anti –LGBTQI bill. In fact, when Mr Speaker went into his lobby, Honorable Helen Ntorso and Hon Dela Sowah followed up with the speaker to find out from him if the bill would still be taken, the speaker Rt. Honorable Alban Bagbin indicated that he had instructed the First Deputy Speaker to start the consideration and that when he finishes with his meeting he was going to come back to complete the consideration stage. Our frustration is that this is not the first time this is happening, this is not the second, this is the third time the speaker has given such an instruction and it has been disregarded in his absence.”
He added “We need to understand from the Majority side, what their issues with the bill are. We need to understand those who take the chair when the speaker gives the instructions what their opposition to the bill is. We are very well aware of people in leadership on the Majority side who are reaching out to the sponsors of the bill asking us to step down the bill. Is that why the majority side is fighting against the bill? The excuse given today that the chairman of the committee is not in the chamber so we can’t take the amendment is alien to the practice of this house because the ranking member was present.
“Even government bills when the chairman is not present, the ranking member is able to take the amendment that comes in the name of the chairman because amendments of the committee always stand in the name of the chair. The amendments, about 43 of them, that have been table are amendments that have been agreed upon between us as sponsors and the committee so they won’t stand in my name, they will stand in the name of the committee chair but it doesn’t mean that only the committee chair can move it. If the government business, the ranking member can move the amendment, how is it that in a private members’ bill when the private members say that are comfortable with the private member moving the bill, the sit-in speaker says we can’t take the bill because the chairman is not there.”
Regarding the passage of this bill, Majority Leader Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu said that Parliament would consider the Bill.
Speaking at a Leaders’ Media Briefing in Parliament on Tuesday, November 7, he assured that the House would find space for its consideration.
“If we are not able to deal with it this meeting, we have to deal with it in the early part of the next succeeding meeting, which will be the First Meeting of the Fourth Session,” the Suame lawmaker said.