Usman Umar
It was quite a spectacle last Sunday when a number of youth from Aboabo, a suburb of Kumasi in the Ashanti Region, stormed Madina in Accra on a hunt for Usman Umar, a man they claim to be gay.
Initially, there was some consternation in the area which nearly resulted in a clash when the people of Madina thought they were under attack. However when the reason for the intrusion was laid bare, the Madina residents even joined their Aboabo counterparts on the hunt for the suspected homosexual.
It was gathered that Usman had travelled to Aboabo for the birthday party of a gay friend whose name this reporter could not ascertain at the time of filing this story; but the party was scuttled by a vigilante group which apparently got information that Usman was a major player in the planning of the event.
The Aboabo youth therefore stormed the Madina Zongo to fish out the brain behind the ‘gay party’.
The vigilante group from Aboabo was led by a muscular young man referred to by his colleagues as ‘Iron’, who looked animated as he waited for his boys who were on a house-to-house search.
This reporter was manhandled in his attempt to talk to a member of the group, and he was rebuffed even in subsequent efforts.
According to information gathered further, the said Usman had once resided in the Aboabo area, where he was active in a secret gay community. When the heat was getting too much for him, however, he allegedly fled the area to Accra, where he had kept a low profile until the recent incident.
Gays and lesbians have for a long time been at the receiving end of brutal attacks in Ghana.
What makes it worse for them is the fact that the Criminal Offences Act, 1960 (Act 29) criminalises unnatural carnal knowledge associated with the activities of gays.
Consequently when gays and lesbians get attacked in Ghana, seeking solace or refuge in the law is simply out of the question.