Anti-LGBTQ+ bill: I didn't indict NPP MPs - Nana Obiri Boahen

Deputy General Secretary of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP), Nana Obiri Boahen, has dismissed suggestions that he has indicted the Majority NPP Members of Parliament for their reported silence on the anti-LGBTQ+ Bill before Parliament.

According to the renowned private legal practitioner, he only raised concerns about the fact that only one New Patriotic Party (NPP) Member of Parliament, Hon. Rev Ntim Fordjuor, happens to be vocal about the issue.

Ntim-Fordjour is the only MP from the Majority side among the eight (8) Members of Parliament behind the anti-LGBTQ+ Bill.

“It is not as if I am indicting the NPP MPs; God forbid. I don’t know what some of the Journalists want to achieve with the way they write. I am saying that I support the anti-LGBTQ+ Bill but I am surprised that the MPs who presented the bill, the majority of them are NDC MPs and only one NPP MP in the group, Rev Hon. Ntim Fordjuor. This is all that I said. I never indicted the NPP MPs,” he clarified.

Speaking on Okay FM’s Ade Akye Abia Morning Show, Nana Obiri Boahen made it clear that the fight against the activities of LGBTQ+ in the country has nothing to do with any political party as well as any religious denomination but the collective responsibility of every Ghanaian to resist the imposition of a foreign culture on the Ghanaian set-up.

“This fight against the activities of LGBTQ+ in this country has nothing to do with any political party; it is neither NPP’s nor NDC’s fight and it is also not a fight for the Christians or the Muslims. We as a country cannot entertain and tolerate gay and lesbianism in the Ghanaian set-up,” he stated.

He, however, was emphatic that gay and lesbianism cannot be either entertained or welcomed as well as legalised or recognised the activities of gay and lesbianism in this country since these activities are inconsistent with and in contravention with some provisions in the 1992 Constitution.

“What some of us are saying is very simple; gay and lesbianism cannot be entertained and welcomed in this country. We cannot legalise and recognise gay and lesbianism in this country; it can never happen. Every society has its likes and dislikes, provided it is inconsistent with and in contravention with some provisions in the constitution,” he stressed.

To him, in the way that a certain provision of the laws of UK, US, Canada and Germany promote monogamy and abhor bigamy, some provisions of the law in the country [Ghana] welcome bigamy; hence, making it wrong for any group of people or State to impose gay and lesbianism on Ghanaian setup that abhors LGBTQ+.

“ . . if someone comes to impose a certain culture on us as Ghanaians, it is wrong and we cannot accept it. It is not the matter for the NPP and NDC MPs and so I am not indicting any MP for not talking about the bill or not getting involved in the debate,” he indicated.