Ghana won’t accommodate LGBTQ – Haruna Iddrisu

Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer (LGBTQ) is a cultural and social impossibility in Ghana, Mr Haruna Iddrisu, the Minority Leader in Parliament, has said.

He noted that the “Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Value Bill, 2021”, which was currently before the House, needed to be improved to take into consideration some of the legitimate inputs that had been presented by civil society groups.

“Lesbian, and gay in Ghana, given our society and its values, is a social impossibility and therefore, I do not see how Ghana will liberalize its legislation to be able to accommodate its practice,” Mr Iddrisu stated during an interaction with the Parliamentary Press Corps in Accra.

He said the Constitutional, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Committee had been clothed with the mandate under their Standing Orders to examine all questions relating to constitutional, legal and parliamentary issues.

“I know Mr. Sam George, (the Member of Parliament for Ningo-Prampram), is very concerned and (is) pushing strongly, justifiably for an early passage of that Bill,” the Minority Leader said.

He reiterated that the Constitution under Article 106 provides an avenue for Parliament to hear other stakeholders and other persons, who might be affected in one way or the other by the legislation.

“But I have always said it (LGBTQ) is going to be a social and cultural impossibility in Ghana, giving full meaning to that.

“We expect the Constitutional, Legal, and Parliamentary Affairs Committee to present its report and then we debate the principles at the second reading and then we can move on to legislate on that.”