Akoto Ampaw, Private legal practitioner
Private legal practitioner lawyer Akoto Ampaw and the Convener of the Group against the Anti-LGBTQ+ Bill, has admonished the Inspector General of Police Dr. George Akuffo Dampare to extend an invitation to persons who have threatened members of the group.
Addressing journalists on Wednesday, October 27, 2021, asked the Police to invite for questioning, all those who have issued threats against the Members of the LGBTQ+ and those who have expressed opposition to the anti-LGBTQ+ Bill.
He also expressed his dissatisfaction towards the posture of some Traditional Leaders who have threatened to kill or banish from their community, persons suspected of be gays and lesbians.
He reminded these Traditional Leaders of their Constitutional mandate which does not include having the power to banish nor kill any person or interfere with their freedom of movement.
He cited the Supreme Court decision in the case of “Nana Adjei Ampofo v the Attorney-General and the President of National House of Chiefs,” where the Court ruled that Chiefs and Traditional Leaders have no right or whatsoever to restrict and interfere with the freedom of movement of any person.
The group recently presented a memorandum to parliament arguing that the Promotion of Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values Bill 2021, which seeks to criminalize LGBTQ+ and adjacent activities, is an “impermissible invasion of the inviolability of human dignity.”
To push the anti-LGBTQ+ will be to challenge Ghana’s constitution and democracy, they also argued in the 18-page document.
They posited “the proposers of this far-reaching claim have not provided any data or evidence to suggest that there is such a threat, beyond a resort to some dogmatic religious tenets and so-called Ghanaian family values.”