General News of Monday, 18 October 2021
Source: www.ghanaweb.live
2021-10-18‘Visa applicants should speak to us directly’ - Netherlands Amb. reacts to visa brouhaha
Jeroen Verheul, Netherlands Ambassador to Ghana. Photo credit: netherlandsandyou.nl
• Jeroen Verheul has reacted to visa brouhaha relating to LGBTQ+ activities
• He stated that visa applicants should speak directly to his outfit when they have issues with their applications
• Alhassan Suhuyini had alleged, he was denied a visa by the Netherlands Embassy
Jeroen Verheul, the Netherlands Ambassador to Ghana has urged visa applicants to speak directly to his office whenever
Read full article.they have issues regarding their visa applications.
According to him, this will help to avoid a lot of misunderstands and miscommunications in the media.
The Netherlands Ambassador believes that this is the importance of having "diplomatic relations and bilateral embassies.”
MP for Tamale North, Alhassan S. Suhuyini in a Facebook post, alleged that he has been denied a visa by the Netherlands Embassy.
He linked it to his association with the MPs who are seeking a law to criminalise LGBTQ+ activities in Ghana.
Suhuyini said, he was denied an entry visa into the Netherlands with the explanation that he would not return to Ghana although he submitted all relevant documents.
“For the Netherlands to ignore my status as a member of Parliament with the responsibility to an entire constituency, which was known to them, my valid travel visas to the UK and USA and my numerous previous travel records, which indicate I have never overstayed any visit abroad, my beautiful family, and deny me an entry visa on the basis that, there was insufficient evidence that I have significant social or economic ties to my country to prompt my return after my intended visit, could only have been deliberately taken to provoke me and also undermine Ghanaian state officials and diplomats.”
Following this, the Ningo-Prampram MP, Sam Nartey George slammed the Dutch Embassy in Ghana for resorting to blackmail after losing the debate on the criminalisation of LGBTQI+ activities in Ghana.
He promised that a crusade against Dutch interests in Ghana will be launched following the denial of an entry visa to his colleague MP, Alhassan S. Suhuyini.
“When they fail to win the debate, they resort to such cheap blackmail. Stay strong my brother and colleague, for we shall be victorious in this enterprise.
"We shall demand full recompense for the activities of the Embassy and start a crusade against Dutch interests in Ghana. We shall overcome!” Sam George wrote in support of Suhuyini.
But in a reaction, Jeroen Verheul wrote on his verified Twitter timeline, “If the visa applicant only spoke to us directly, instead of through the media, we could avoid a lot of misunderstandings and miscommunication in the (social) media. That’s why it is important to have diplomatic relations and bilateral embassies.”
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.
