The Concerned Citizens against the anti-LGBTQI+ Bill introduced in Parliament under the “Promotion of Proper Human Right Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Value Bill 2021,”has reiterated that the opposition to the passage of the Bill is borne out of its unconstitutional implications.
The Coalition said that the Bill was unconstitutional and has no place in Ghana’s secular democratic Republic and that there was no legitimate justification for it to be passed into law.
“Indeed, its neither necessary to protect any legitimate public interest, nor does it promote the constitutional right of Ghanaians. Moreover, it’s not reasonable or proportionate to the (non-existent) mischief it(purportedly) seeks to cure and does nothing to promote so called ‘proper’ family values”, they argued.
The Coalition stressed their point in opposition to the bill on Wednesday in Accra in response to matters arising after submission of their Memorandum to parliament to address issues raised in the public domain after their submission to parliament .
The Group of the Coalition members were supported by Human Right Advocacy Centre, Amnesty International (Ghana), African Centre for International Law and Accountability and were addressed by AkotoAmpaw and SelasiTsegah, both members of the advocacy group against the passage of the Bill.
According to the coalition, the proposed legislation would not solve any problem while it only sought to stigmatise a segment of the population which posed a threat to the rights of Ghanaians guaranteed under the constitution.
The coalition was emphatic that any freedom- loving Ghanaians should be aware that neither the Coalition Groupnor the LGBTQI+ community has sought to introduce any Bill to legalize LGBTQI+ practice in Ghana as was being portrayed by many “but it is rather some members of parliament who have introduced an anti-LGBTQI+ in parliament to which our memorandum is responding to.”
“This dangerous Bill seeks to take away every Ghanaian’s democratic rights, whether you are for or against the bill in the future” they contended.
According to the coalition the bill in clause 12 (2)(b), specifically prohibits activities that “promote or support change in the public opinion towards an act prohibited under this Act which effectively meant that the very press conference today would become a criminal offence, with a potential jail term of up to 10 years.
They contended that the bill placed one row duties on all parents and guardians and sought to impose on them what values they must teach their children and wards while even imposing a duty on judges to comply with the contents of the Bill should it become law.
BY LAWRENCE MARKWEI & CONNIELOVE MAWUTORNYO DZODZEGBE
