PRESIDENT NANA Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has stated emphatically that his administration will never allow same sex marriage to be legalized in the country.
The President’s emphatic statement has dealt a blow to those who have been pushing for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual Transgender and Queer Intersex (LGBTQI) rights in the country.
According to him, his government would not even consider same sex marriage as an option during their four years mandate so the citizenry should not worry about anything.
“Let me in conclusion stress again that it will not be under the presidency of Akufo-Addo that same Sex will be legalized in Ghana, it will never happen,” he said.
Perhaps to show to the entire world that he meant his words, the President repeated that he abhored same sex “let me repeat, it will never happen in my time as President.”
The president was speaking during the installation of the Second Archbishop of the Anglican Church of Ghana at the St. Michael & All Angels Cathedral of the Anglican Diocese at Asante Mampong in the Ashanti Region last Saturday.
The President’s emphatic words were instantly greeted with thunderous applause from the congregants, who included the clergy, traditional leaders, politicians and many others.
The applause and shouts were so thunderous that at a point President Akufo-Addo had to pause for some few minutes as the elated audience continued to shout and jubilate.
It would be recalled that President Akufo-Addo had, on some occasions, publicly said he was a Christian so he and his government was not in support of same sex marriage.
LGBT Storm
In recent past, the widely circulated news about the opening of a new office space in Accra for a LGBTQI group to facilitate their activities had caused uneasy calm in the country.
Executive Secretary of Proper Human Sexual Rights and Family Values, Moses Foh-Amoaning, has vowed that they will fight to ensure the offices are closed down entirely since their activities are against the laws of the country and the office located at Ashongman in the Ga East Municipality has since been closed down.
The group, LGBT+ Rights Ghana on January 31, 2021, reportedly hosted a fundraiser to officially introduce and promote its office and community space.
Open Support
Later, the European Union (EU) confirmed that it participated in the opening of a new office space for the LGBTQI rights group in Accra, reiterating its support for similar organisations.
In attendance at the fundraiser were some invited guests including the Australian High Commissioner, Gregory Andrews, the Danish Ambassador, Tom Nørring and some delegates from the EU.
In a post on Facebook, the EU in Ghana posted, “A couple of weeks ago the EU in Ghana participated in the opening of the new community space of the @LGBTRightsGhana. Equality, tolerance and respect for each other are core values of the EU. The EU supports civil society organisations promoting #LGBTIQ rights #EU4LGBT.”
President Akufo-Addo said he was a man who always kept his words; therefore, his government would not allow same sex to become legalized against the wish of the citizenry.
FROM I.F. Joe Awuah Jnr., Kumasi