General News of Thursday, 14 October 2021
Source: www.ghanaweb.live
2021-10-14Tell Ghanaians why NPP has one signatory to anti-LGBTQ+ bill – Sam George to Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu
Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu
• Sam Goerge accuses Majority Leader of introducing partisan politics into the LGBTQ+ conversation
• He challenges the Suame MP to tell Ghanaians why only one NPP MP signed the bill
• Sam Goerge and his colleagues are advocating for LGBTQ+ activities to be criminalised
Samuel Nartey George, has challenged the Majority Leader, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu to come out and tell Ghanaians why
Read full article.there is only one NPP MP who is a signatory to the anti-LGBTQ+ bill which is currently before Parliament.
According to him, throughout the LGBTQ+ conversation, he has tried as much as possible to make the conversation partisan.
Speaking on Thursday’s edition of Good Morning Ghana, the Ningo-Prampram MP said, the Suame MP wants to introduce a political slant into the LGBTQ+ conversation.
“The Majority Leader appears to want to very strenuously introduce a political slant into this matter. His whole interest in calling this press conference was literally attack the Speaker and make comments that the Speaker has erred in one way or the other,” Sam George said.
He further indicated that even though the Majority Leader has been making comments on the bill submitted to Parliament, he has admitted on Joy News that, he has not read the bill.
“…yet he makes determinations that the bill cannot pass in its current state because it infringes on Article 108 of the Constitution...
“I have a lot of respect for Hon Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu but on this one, he shouldn’t let his partisan political colouration [replace] what is apolitical. This bill has absolutely no political colouration and we will resist any attempt to politically colour it,” Sam George stated as part of his submission on Good Morning Ghana.
Sam George feels that, the attitude of Parliamentarians had put Parliament in the trenches of being unable to pass any legislation on its own since 1992 until we saw liberation under the Rt. Hon. Mike Aaron Oquaye.
“Rt. Hon. Mike Aaron Oquaye before becoming Speaker, while he was an MP had argued vigorously that Parliament must be allowed to initiate legislation and pass same...when he became Speaker, in his inaugural Speak he indicated that, he’ll start a Private Member’s Bill regime...
“…What Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu is doing is Politics and it hurt me that in such a critical issue, he wants us to go down the road again that always destroys everything we want to do in this country partisan Politics (sic)...Hon Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu should tell the people of Ghana why there is only one signatory from the NPP side on the bill,” Sam George said.
He explained that, on the day that the bill was being submitted to the Speaker of Parliament, “three MPs called in and said sorry we can’t come; we’ve been asked not to come...Ntim Fordjour was the only one of the four who signed because he is a Rev Minister, [he] was berated and criticized by his leadership…”
“This is not an NDC bill but a bill for Ghana,” Sam George stressed.
About the anti-LGBTQ+ Bill
Sam Nartey George led an eight-member legislative group that drafted a Private Members’ Bill titled: “The Promotion of Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values, Bill 2021," which seeks to comprehensively outlaw activities of the LGBTQ+ community.
Currently, the bill has been laid before the house and referred to the appropriate committee for consideration.
The Ningo Prampram MP has strongly defended the need for the bill which he insists is a necessity in preserving the moral and cultural values of Ghanaians in general.
Sam George insists that LGBTQ+ tendencies are not human rights but preferences that need to be regulated within the context of what Ghanaian society and culture accept.
The bill has the full blessing of Speaker Alban Bagbin who is on record to have said he is pro-life and will ensure that the bill is passed into law as soon as possible.