Spokesperson of the Rawlingses, Mr. Kofi Adams, has opined that minister-designate for Gender, Children and Social Protection would have spared herself all the criticism had she made her stance very clear during her vetting.
On Wednesday, Nana Oye Lithur appeared before members of the Appointment Committee to be vetted as a nominee by the President.
Nana Oye Lithur who spent close to three hours before the committee was faced with an avalanche of questions from the members on the committee, which were all centered on an earlier position she is said to have taken concerning the rights of homosexuals.
The minister designate is reported to have advocated for the rights of gays which to her needs to be protected because the Constitution of Ghana guarantees it.
Her response to the questions unfortunately were not satisfactory to some of the members on the committee as many of them were hoping she would give a definite answer or at least repeat what she has already made public.
Kofi Adams, contributing to panel discussions on ‘Kokrokoo’ with Nana Yaw Kesse, who was sitting in for Kwami Sefa-Kayi, deflated the notion that Oye Lithur is endorsing homosexuals. He indicated that she (Oye Lithur) is only asking for the rights of the individuals (minus the act) to be respected.
However, “my problem with her was the way she answered the questions on the subject. I realized the members on the committee were trying to help her by asking her personal views on the act of homosexuality – but being a lawyer as she is, she decided not to give a definite answer.
What she has been trying to do is for us to separate the act from the person. The act is wrong; it is bad but the person who committed the crime should be given a right to hearing. Unfortunately, it looks like she couldn’t communicate strongly that way. I think she missed the opportunity to let people see that she is fighting for the rights of the people and not the act,” Kofi Adams posited.