•He is disappointed that Dr Bawumia has made no comment on the issue
•He is confident Parliament will pass the bill
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and Vice President Dr. Mahamudu have been charged to break their silence on the ongoing discussion about the passage or otherwise of the ‘The Promotion of Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values Bill of 2021".
According to Sammy Gyamfi, the National Communications Officer of the National Democratic Congress, the president and his vice cannot maintain silence on the issue which has caught attention within and outside the country.
He stated on Metro TV’s Good Morning Ghana that it comes as a shock to him that Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia has adopted a deafening silence on issues of the LGBTQ+ community in the country.
Sammy Gyamfi said with the legal representative of President Akufo-Addo leading a coalition against the bill, it has become imperative that the president addresses the issue.
He expressed disappointment in Akoto Ampaw who he claims he revered so much as a senior in the law profession.
“My only disappointment is the lawyer of President Akufo-Addo organizing some persons to oppose this bill. The people of this country deserve to know the position of our president on this bill. More importantly, they deserve to know the position of his heir apparent who is a Muslim. I’m sad that till date the two leaders have not commented on this bill. President Mahama has commented. President Mills also commented,” he said.
Sammy Gyamfi said that like many Ghanaians, he detests the sexual preferences of gays and lesbians but has nothing personal against them.
He is hopeful that the law will be passed expeditiously to deal with all related matters and bring finality to the issues.
“I don’t hate LGBTQI people. As humans, I love them but I’m against the promotion of LGBTQ rights in the country. I support and care for them but it is their sexual preferences that threaten the health, values and laws of our society.
“I have nothing personal against LBTQ and I cannot stand it. I know a majority of our people also cannot stand it. It is against everything we stand for as a people. My expectation is that in the end, this bill will be passed,” he said.
President Akufo-Addo’s position on same sex relations
President Akufo-Addo has since assumption of office in 2017 touched on the topic twice. In an interview with Al Jazeera in 2017, President Akufo-Addo offered what many considered to be a moderate view on homosexuality.
“I don't believe that in Ghana so far a sufficiently strong coalition has emerged which is having that impact of public opinion that will say, change it; let’s then have a new paradigm in Ghana.”
“At the moment, I don’t feel and I don’t see that in Ghana there is that strong current of opinion that is saying that this is something that we need even deal with. It is not so far a matter which is on the agenda.”
In February this year, President Akufo-Addo gave what was more like a definite position on the issue, declaring that same-sex relations will not be legalized under his reign.
"I have said this before, let me in conclusion stress again, that it will not be under the presidency of Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo that same-sex marriage will be legal, that same-sex marriage will be legalized in Ghana, it will never happen in my time as President.”
"Let me repeat, it will never happen in my time as President," President Akufo-Addo stressed.
Sammy Gyamfi, the National Communications Officer of the National Democratic Congress