‘Pass a bill to criminalize adultery’ - Social activist charges Parliament

CEO of Humanity Magazine, Yahaya Alhassan, has charged the Ghanaian clergy to redirect their energies and time to fighting against other forms of sins that have permeated the Ghanaian society, social and economic exclusion facing people in the country.

According to him, religious leaders who are pushing for the speedy passage of the bill criminalizing LGBTQ+ by the Ghanaian parliament should equally push for a bill to criminalize adultery and fornication.

Mr. Alhassan, who spoke in an interview in Accra reasoned that adultery is affecting family values and destroying many marriages that lead to broken homes in the country and yet nothing is being said about it by religious authorities.

“Adultery has far more consequences to the Ghanaian society than same-sex relationships. Men have neglected taking care of their families and frivolously spend their earnings on concubines.”

In what he described as hypocrisy, he noted that the clergy appeared to have created a hierarchy of sins in the country that places same-sex relationships above all other sins in the country when however same-sex partnerships do not in any way cause harm to other people.

“So, for the past week, Ghana has no pro-poor agenda other than jailing members of the LGBTQ+ community? He asked and went on to wonder why there is no what he termed as “Sam George bill” to regulate road accidents that are claiming several lives, armed robbery, corruption, and other social cankers that are eating away the fabrics holding our society."

“There are thousands of vulnerable girls sleeping on the street through no fault of theirs and mass unemployment facing the country and sadly the voice of the clergy is not loud enough on these serious issues,” he lamented.

Mr. Alhassan thinks that members of the LGBTQ+ community are only being targeted because they are vulnerable and cannot speak openly and campaign for their rights.

“Five percent of the energy dedicated to persecuting same-sex partners should be directed towards generating solutions to fight corruption, which is the biggest issue affecting our political, economic, and social lives,” he added.

He concluded by arguing that procreation is a choice and even bi-sexual partners sometimes make decisions not to produce children. “Same-sex partners deciding not to give birth should not be a problem for anyone.

Should we also not encourage people to adopt the several orphans and other vulnerable children we have in our country? he asked.