Mahama Ayariga, MP, Bawku Central
Some sections of Ghanaians on social media have indicated that the Member of Parliament for Bawku Central does not deserve to serve in the lawmaking house of Ghana for indicating that homosexuals have rights and that the closure of their office is against their freedom of association.
The Bawku Member of Parliament speaking in the lawmaking house indicated that “Now that closure that happened, if indeed the security agencies of this country were involved I believe that there was an infraction of fundamental human right. Stopping them is a clear violation of our own constitution”.
“You may not like what they are seeking to advocate but then what you do is also create a new platform to advocate your contrary opinion. You can’t punish somebody for expressing that view but you can punish them if they practice it,” he said.
He explained that “the law prohibits unnatural carnal knowledge so if they practice it, you can arrest them you can prosecute them and they have no defence if it is proven beyond reasonable doubt but that is what they are engaged in”.
“If they say they want to open an office, they want to draft a bill, they want to come and meet the parliamentary caucus on gender and others and to present an argument why we have gotten to a point in Ghana where they feel that such positions should be accepted by the laws of Ghana that cannot be stopped.”
“Stopping them is a clear violation of our own constitution. So let’s be careful today it is an LGBTQ+ position that is unpopular and you are criminalising and punishing it, tomorrow, something that is perfectly legitimate can also become an unpopular position and then we will say we want to punish those who share that view too.”
But reacting to the Member of Parliament’s position on the LGBTQI debate which has been going on for some time now, some Ghanaians are peeved by the position of the Member of Parliament who they think should know better.
To them, there is the need for the people of Bawku to vote him out of power for supporting an act which they see as non-Ghanaian.
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