General News of Thursday, 14 October 2021
Source: www.ghanaweb.live
2021-10-14Why MPs leading the anti-LGBTQ+ bill do not trust AG's office to deal with the matter
Sam Nartey George
• Sam George has indicated he and his colleagues do not trust the AG's to deal with the bill
• He said, the head of drafting at the AG's office decided not to work with his team and they approach the AG
• Sam George and his colleagues want activities of LGBTQ+ criminalised
Read full article.href='/GhanaHomePage/people/person.php?ID=3115'>Sam Nartey George, Member of Parliament (MP), Ningo-Prampram, says his colleagues do not trust the Attorney General's (AG) office to deal with the bill.
Speaking on Metro TV's 'Good Morning Ghana' the MP explained, the Head of Drafting at the AG's who is in charge of the drafting of bills refused to work with his team and they first approached the AG's office.
Sam Nartey George said, “when we started work on this bill, we approached the Attorney General’s (AG) office; it all fearless to the Attorney General, Godfred Dame, he was willing to work with us on this bill. However, his head of drafting said she’ll not work on it; I’m putting this out on record."
“So when people say we should hand this bill to the AG’s office, is it not the same head of drafting who refused to work with us on the bill six months ago, how then do you want us to entrust this bill into that person’s hand to come and draft it. That suggestion is dead on arrival," he observed.
Samuel Nartey George, on the show also challenged the Majority Leader, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu to come out and tell Ghanaians why there is only one NPP MP who is a signatory to the anti-LGBTQ+ bill which is currently before Parliament.
He said, throughout the LGBTQ+ conversation, he has tried as much as possible to make the conversation partisan but 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...
“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.
“…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.
“This is not an NDC bill but a bill for Ghana,” Sam George stressed.
He alleged 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, was berated and criticized by his leadership…"
Sam Nartey George, however, 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…"
About the 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.
