LGBT: Stay away, you can’t change our culture – Sam George warns Spanish Embassy

The Member of Parliament for Ningo-Prampram, Sam Nartey George has warned the Spanish Embassy to stay away from things that undermine the Ghanaian culture.

In a Facebook post on Monday May 23, 2022, the Lawmaker indicated that Ghanaians will go at any length to resist attempts to change the tradition and cultural identity of the nation.

“Dear Spanish Embassy in Ghana, I am currently on an official assignment outside the jurisdiction. I would be addressing your letter to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs & Regional Integration, Ghana indicating your intent to ‘bless’ same sex marriages in Ghana. Be minded that you are simply guests of our Country.

“I am well informed that the position of the Ministry is in line with our culture, traditions and current position of our laws. I wonder why you are not pushing your perverse agenda in Togo, Burkina Faso and Ivory Coast,” the Ningo Prampram MP stated.

He continued: “Ghana would NOT succumb to this atrocious attempt to change our cultural identity. This should be a wakeup call to all who say the Bill currently before Parliament is not necessary and that the intent of our antagonists are harmless.”

“I want to personally urge the Chairman of the Committee on Constitutional, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs to rise up to the task before his committee and allow the process to proceed with any further hindrance. It is the least service he can render to his Constituents and Nation,” Sam George added.

Background

Parliament on Thursday, 11th November, 2021 began sitting on the Anti-LGBTQI Bill also known as the Promotion of Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values Bill, which was laid in the House on Monday, August 2, 2021, and read for the first time.

The Bill among other things is seeking to criminalize some activities of members of the LGBTQI Community in Ghana.

Private Legal Practitioner, Akoto Ampaw who appealed before Parliament’s Committee on Constitutional, Legal, and Parliamentary Affairs on behalf of a group of Concerned Ghanaian Citizens against the passing of the Bill has called on Parliament to reject the Anti-LGBTQI Bill, which he claims does not meet legal requirements as stipulated in the 1992 Constitution.

According to him, the Bill in its current form violates Article 1(1) (2):” which upholds the sovereignty of the people of Ghana in whose name and whose welfare the powers of Government shall be exercised in the manner and within the limits laid down in the Constitution”.

“Irrespective of the number of people who support the Bill, the legislation must meet the first provision of the constitution. If it does not by Clause (2) of Article 1 of that bill or legislation is void.”

Apostle Ofori Kuruagu of the Ghana Pentecostal and Charismatic Council in his argument to the Committee stated that Parliament as the representative of the people at all material times was expected to mirror the broad opinions of its constituents and where appropriate serve as a vehicle to satisfy the interest of the people whose mandate it represented through the vehicle of legislation.

He said the passage of the Anti-LGBTQI Bill would give eloquent expression to the sovereign will of the majority of the people which Parliament represented and a bold attempt from the dangerous notion that anything foreign is “good for the nation.”

“This nation is being inundated with all forms of foreign values…we see this bill as a bold attempt to disassociate Ghana from such a menace”, he added.