Emmanuel Marfo, Member of Parliament for Oforikrom Constituency
The fight against the LGBTQ+ community in Ghana has heightened in recent times with eight legislators presenting the “Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values Bill, 2021” to the country’s parliament.
The new bill when passed will prohibit and criminalize advocacy, funding and act of LGBTQ+ while promoting conversion therapy programs seeking to “convert” people from homosexuality to heterosexuality.
This bill has received condemnation from the gay community both locally and internationally, and other parts of the West who describe the bill as a violation of human rights.
Member of Parliament (MP) for the Oforikrom Constituency, Emmanuel Marfo, reacting to the international community and their news portals demonizing Ghana for the possible passing of the bill into law says, “The west has to understand that they cannot make their values ours. They simply cannot force their values on us. Although polygamy is a part of our culture, the West has laws against polygamy and we respect that when we travel to their land. So as far as they are protecting their cultural values they should understand that we are doing the same”.
“We were born into a culture with men and women staying together and raising a family, not same-sex partners. That is not a part of our culture. Our constitution also states that we should integrate proper cultural values into our laws and that is what the bill seeks to achieve. The bill is right within the remits of the constitution and there shouldn’t be any controversy about it.”
According to the legislator, the fear of Ghana not receiving financial aid from the West if the bill is passed should not scare the populace as he believes Ghana will survive regardless. “I don’t care if the West refuses to give us aid because of the bill. They say necessity is the mother of all inventions and even if we face struggles that will force the country to work hard and govern itself better. No Ghanaian should entertain any fear. God created all of us equal and it is a colonial mentality to say someone to respect or force your values on others.”
He noted that the fight for independence is still going on and a cost-benefit analysis of homosexuality proves that the former outweighs the latter. “Can we value the devastation homosexuality and its open advocacy can have on our society?”
The politician admits the passage of the anti-LGBTQ+ bill will have its effects on Ghana alright but believes Ghana can improve upon its governance to survive.
To protect the rights of LGBTQ persons in the country, two separate documents were sent to Parliament’s Committee on Constitutional, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs on October 2, making a case against the proposed Promotion of Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values Bill, 2021.