MP criticizes proposal for anti-gay bill to include adultery, fornication

The Member of Parliament (MP) for South Dayi Constituency in the Volta Region, Rockson-Nelson Dafeamekpor, has criticised the proposal by some people that adultery and fornication should be covered by the Promotion of Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values Bill 2021.

He insisted that the Bill could not include such acts since adultery and fornication had already been provided under matrimonial clauses.

“Adultery is already provided under our matrimonial clauses act in Section 2 thereabout and if the House comes with a determination that you want to criminalise adultery, it is the right of the proponent to propose it and whether the House will adopt it that is fine,” Mr Dafeamekpor stressed.

Addressing the Committee of Parliamentary and Legal Affairs during the second public hearing on the Anti-LGBTQI+ Bill, he said more than140 memoranda had been presented to the Committee so far regarding the Bill.

Mr Dafeamekpor, who is a proponent of the Promotion of Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values Bill 2021, explained that the bill does not seek to criminalise adultery and fornication and maintained that it would not address adultery and fornication because that was not the focus.

“It is not the focus of the bill to address adultery and fornication and nobody should pollute the focus of the bill with adultery,” he cautioned.

Responding to the suggestion, Sam George, the MP for Ningo Prampram in the Greater Accra Region, noted that the proposal to include adultery and fornication could not be considered by the proponents due to the fact that there are no groups of adulterers or fornicators advocating for their rights to commit such acts.

“Let us be clear here, I have not come across any group of adulterers or fornicators who have formed a group and are asking for society to recognise their rights to adultery and fornication, so the apples are not oranges,” he explained.

The Bill, if passed in its current state, will criminalise Lesbianism, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and their related activities, however, the Ghana Pentecostal and Charismatic Council has called for the swift passage of the Promotion of Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values Bill, 2021, into law.

The Concerned Ghanaian Citizens, a group opposing the passage of the bill has described it as violation of human rights since it will promote hate against persons belonging to the LGBTQI+ communities and called for rejection of the bill.