Ningo-Prampram NDC disowns Sam George over LGBTQI threat claims

National Democratic Congress (NDC) executives in Ningo-Prampram have disowned their MP Sam George following his claims that some anonymous Lesbians, Gays, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer and Intersex (LGBTQI) vowed to unseat him in the party’s next parliamentary primaries if he continues to attack them.

According to a statement issued by constituency Deputy Communications Officer of the NDC, Shehu Usman Mohammed, the MP’s claim about LGBTQI is false and must be ignored.

He claimed the MP only wants to court sympathy votes ahead of the party’s primaries.

“We have taken note of the claim by Hon. Sam George, MP for the Ningo-Prampram Constituency, that he received a call from an unknown person who said they [LGBTQ people] will use their financial power to ensure that he [Sam George] losses the next parliamentary primaries election he may be contesting in his constituency so that he would not be able to have a speaking voice in the country again.

“The MP is said to have made this claim on GHOne TV last week… We find the claim as one borne out of mischief and a plain lie calculated to tarnish the image of whoever will contest the MP at our next primaries in the eyes of all right thinking citizens in the constituency.

“Obviously, the claim is to make those who will not be able to see through this lie to arrive at the conclusion during the party’s next constituency primaries that Hon. Sam George’s opponent is being financed by the LGBTQ group. By so doing, the vast majority of Ghanaians in the constituency who are vehemently against this kind of debase sexual orientation will automatically rally to his cause against whoever is contesting him,” Shehu Mohammed said.

The statement added: “One does not need to be a rocket scientist to see through the inferior tactics the MP is employing. Why will LGBTQ people target only him when he is not the only MP who has spoken against their attempt to have their activities recognised and legalised in Ghana? It is a fact that some MPs from both sides of the political divide, including Hon. Haruna Iddrisu, the leader of the NDC caucus in Parliament and MP for Tamale South, Hon. Mahama Ayariga, who is MP for Bawku Central, Hon. Clement Apaak, MP for Builsa South, Hon. John Ntim Fordjour, MP for Assin South, and Hon Adwoa Sarfo, MP for Dome-Kwabenya have all spoken publicly against LGBTQ’s attempts to gain a foothold in Ghana.Their comments have been carried by both the electronic and print media and is on the World Wide Web. Why have they also not received the same call from the LGBTQ threatening to ensure they lose in their next primaries?

“Hon. Sam George should stop the lies and the attempt to smear decent persons who will want to contest him. We call on Ghanaians, especially NDC supporters in the Ningo-Prampram Constituency to ignore the claim by our MP, which is a figment of his own imagination. There is no way any such group as the LGBTQ will play any role either covertly or overtly in the primaries of the party in the constituency because the constituency’s next primaries will be contested, as has always been the case, by men and women of high moral standards who will cringe at the very idea. When the time comes, let any citizen who wish to contest in the primaries do so without let or hindrance. He or she must not be put off by Hon. Sam George’s false claim,” the statement concluded.

The statement followed a bad blood flowing between the executives and the lawmaker over his alleged derogatory comments suggesting that delegates could be influenced by Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer and Intersex (LGBTQI) community to vote against him in the next primaries.

According to him, after making his comments on TV last Friday, February 19, he received a call from an unknown person the next day who said, they [LGBTQ], would use their financial power to ensure that he, Sam George, loses the next parliamentary primaries he may be contesting in his constituency.

“You know when I spoke first last week Friday on a TV network, over the weekend; I got a call and that’s what has irritated me and made me go all out that let’s have an all-out fight. Someone told me that look, do I [Sam George] know how rich the LGBTQI community is and that they will bring money and make sure that the platform that I have as an MP that I think gives me the right to speak…they will meet me at my primaries,” the MP said on GHOne TV.