Anti-LGBTQI+ Bill: NDC’s position anti-social - Prof Emerita Abena Takyiwaa

The position taken by the Minority National Democratic Congress (NDC) in Parliament over the anti-LGBTQ+ Bill is an indictment of the principles of a social democratic party that the opposition party claims to be.

According to a former Director of the Institute of African Studies at the University of Ghana, Professor Emerita Abena Takyiwaa Manuh, the opposition NDC should do some introspection on their stance on the bill.

“I would urge that the party looks at its own associations, you have a social democratic party that is now promoting this hateful legislation,” she stated on JoyNews’ Newsfile last Saturday monitored by MyNewsGh.com.

She told the host, “this legislation will actually embolden this [hate and violence against the LGBTQI+ community] that is why yesterday we had an NDC communicator saying ‘stone and kill' gays and lesbians in your communities.”

“So does the NDC have one face at home and another face abroad?”, Professor Emerita Abena Takyiwaa quizzed Samson Lardy Anyenini.

About the Bill

The legislation is titled ‘The Promotion of Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values Bill 2021’.

Groups and individuals who advocate for the rights of LGBTQI people or offer support will also face sanctions under the law aside from those who engage in it.

The Bill has sparked outrage from human rights activists and persons sympathetic to LGBTQI people, but the proposed legislation has been welcomed by a significant number of Ghanaians and Christian groups.

However, others have also called for a review of Ghana’s laws to be more accommodating of minority groups, as many countries are decriminalizing homosexuality.