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Opinions of Tuesday, 8 November 2011

Columnist: Newton-Offei, Justice Abeeku

Cacophonously cacophonous ignorance of Baba ‘jihad’ Jamal

Ghana is a sovereign nation and so is Britain. We have socio-cultural values that are peculiar to us and so do the people of Great Britain. We even have different gastronomic affinity which is totally different from that of British people and this is why we have Ghanaians in England queuing at the various Ghanaian, African and Caribbean shops just to lay hands on a tuber of yam, koobi, kpakpo-shito and even ‘momoni’ in order to have a feel of “home-made” delicacy in order to have a well deserved break from bacon and sausages. I have lived in that system before and I know exactly what I’m talking about here.
Now, for the past couple of days, there have been lots of discussions about the pronouncement made by the British Prime Minister, David Cameron, about the treatment of homosexuals in some countries. Different people have, either deliberately or out of sheer ignorance, put different interpretations on what the British prime minister actually said.
Law blinded by emotions
Our distinguished members of the legal fraternity (lawyers), who by the nature of their training are suppose to be custodians of upholding individual’s personal human-rights and freedoms, even had some of their members going against the norms of their practice by openly coming out to condemn the act of homosexuality when they should have rather known better, and appropriately educated the ordinary Ghanaian.
Indeed, homosexuality is seriously frowned upon by our cultural norms. But as we speak, there is absolutely no law in our statutes against this practice. And my belief here is that, some of these lawyers simply allowed their inherent Ghanaian cultural norms to override their sense of judgment as stated in our statutes.
Baba maggot in a KVIP
Baba ‘jihad’ Jamal, whose words are, for me, not worthy than the efforts of a maggot in a KVIP, has also been on air doing what he is notoriously noted for; exuding utter gibberish. He has been arguing that David Cameron, being a member of the conservative party, has really disgraced the NPP which shares the same political ideology with them, and that, for the NPP to maintain its integrity, the party must come out to distance itself from David Cameron’s pronouncement and even go further to condemn him.
Baba ‘jihad’ Jamal even went on to claim that the pronouncement was made by a conservative prime minister so the lobour party, with which the NDC shares the same political ideology, is completely exempted from what David Cameron said. And this is where the crass mediocrity and abject stupidity of this NDC juvenile-vagabond comes into clear focus. This ‘jihad’ man, who, as a result of Atta-Mills’ benevolence, is currently drawing huge salary and other free ‘edufudze’ including even male condoms, clearly has no knowledge in governance.
Indeed, even a class one pupil here in Ghana knows that the Prime Minister of Britain speaks on behalf of the entire British people irrespective of his/her political, religious, race and sexual orientation. But per the warped thinking of Baba ‘jihad’ Jamal, David Cameron is a member of the conservative party so pronouncements he makes, in his capacity as a prime minister, reflect the views of only British and other people around the globe, who share his party’s conservative ideology. Such an assertion by a whole minister of state is a clear testament of the fact that Ghana is currently being managed by a group of amazingly ignorant bandits!!!
Homosexuals also contribute to British AID
The aid Ghana gets from Britain includes contributions from the gay and lesbian community of that society. This gay and lesbian community, under the leadership of Peter Thachell, has a very powerful lobby in the British society and it is this powerful lobby that is pushing the British establishment to adopt this foreign policy stance.
What the British government is saying is that; “though homosexuality might be frowned upon in your society, do not trample on the fundamental human-rights of your citizens who are of such sexual orientation”. Such a statement can never ever be described as being conterminous with Ghana being pressurized to legalize homosexuality in order to qualify for AID.
Therefore, our attitude to David Cameron must rather be; “please take your AID and let us keep our cultural norms”. Let us learn, as a people, to cut-out all the cacophonous cacophony about gays and lesbians when flood waters are sweeping away people’s livelihoods and rendering them totally impecunious.

David Cameron speaks for all British people

David Cameron, who has been elected by the British people to advance their course, has spoken and his words clearly reflect the mood of his people. As such, these NDC juvenile-delinquents must please stop being myopic and move on since there are bigger issues facing Ghana than catching gay people. Laws are passed when there is prudent analysis that they can be enforced. Are we going to go around people’s bedrooms anytime we see guys smiling at each other? Then we will be a joke as a nation, believe me!

Homosexuality isn’t criminal in Ghana

If the laws of Ghana do not explicitly forbid homosexuality, then I don’t see where David Cameron has erred, if after 50 odd years of nationhood nothing had ever been done about it. In the statute books, it is a crime to sodomize someone. Just as it is a crime to rape someone. However, the crime needs to be reported, just as it is in the law of unnatural carnal knowledge. Problem is; what is the basis to accuse someone of homosexuality when there is no evidence, unless people are caught red handed in the act? Practically, it doesn’t make sense to send ‘HOMO’ Police around doing that.
If two adults want to do their thing, it is up to them. Sometimes, we need to rise above petty politics and look ahead as a nation with a common vision. These divisive tendencies and loyalties, though zealous and admirable, will not solve issues like graduate unemployment and poor education. We are all in this country, and it is easy to point fingers, but why don’t we begin by doing our bit to help?

Atta-Mills, in his characteristic pretentious fashion, has spoken against homosexuality, albeit belatedly, yet, the act is still not criminal under our laws because it doesn’t take such presidential crocodile tear-shedding to push for laws. As such, the likes of Baba ‘jihad’ must learn to get their facts straight and also know that it is the job of parliament to enact laws while the president only ratifies laws, and that, if they want to engage in intellectual analysis, then they must learn to know the rules.

Baba ‘jihad’ Jamal’s cacophony

Laws are made to be prudently, justifiably and reasonably adhered to, such that any contravention will be clearly evident and prosecution, a clear cut case. This law isn’t one that will do that so the likes of Baba ‘jihad’ Jamal must ask any lawyer. Gay and lesbianism, in our Ghanaian society, is a clear case of morality and cultural values. Consequently, I would advise Baba Jamal and his cabal of ‘chop-chop’ juvenile delinquent ignoramuses to be mindful of the fact that politics is very superficial when it comes to matters of law so they must be careful and reason more deeply and rather cut-out their incessant cacophonously cacophonous cacophony.

The fact still remains that, homosexual or not, adulterer or not, fornicator or not, a Ghanaian has a right to be a Ghanaian and until he is caught doing something against the law, we have no right to judge them. It is not like the homosexual steals from you or anything. He takes pleasure from doing something that you abhor. Every Ghanaian citizen can lobby his/her parliamentarian to push a law on homosexuality.

So, instead of Baba ‘jihad’ Jamal going on rampage with garbage-laden cacophony and issuing ‘fatwa’ on Nana Addo to “come out”, he must rather act as a responsible state appointee since that’s how laws are promulgated and that is what a ‘jihadist’ like him must do. Ghana is a democratic country but Baba ‘jihad’ Jamal and his block-headed NDC cohorts simply don’t understand the dynamics and therefore always argue only on superficial trivialities.

Finally, when former president Rawlings described president Kufuor as ‘Atta Ayi’, the Christian Council issued a statement, not to condemn anybody but simply call for calm in our political discourse.Now, Archbishop Palmer-Buckle happened to be a signatory to that pastoral letter and for that reason, the likes of Baba ‘jihad’ Jamal who saw nothing wrong with whatever Rawlings did, at the time, subjected the decent archbishop to vicious bouts of verbal abuse and even went further to describe him as a “man of Satan”.

But today, this very same Archbishop Charles Gabriel Nii Obuobisa Palmer-Buckle is being hailed as a saint by Baba ‘jihad’ Jamal because he is said to have ‘congratulated’ Atta-Mills for coming out to speak against homosexuality. Ghanaians, please make your own judgment on this Baba ‘jihadist’.

Justice Abeeku Newton-Offei

E-mail: [email protected]