The Member of Parliament for Ningo-Prampram, Samuel George Nartey, is of the view that Ghana’s economy will not collapse if American businesses decide to pull out of the country following the passage of Ghana’s Human Sexual Rights and Family Values Bill, 2021. The controversial anti-LGBTQ legislation which prohibits lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) activities and criminalises their promotion, advocacy, and funding in the country, was unanimously passed by Parliament on Wednesday, February 28, 2024, after three long years since it was introduced on the floor of parliament.
The anti-LGBTQ bill if assented to by the President will, among other things, impose sanctions on willful promotion and engaging in LGBTQ activities in the country. The bill proscribed a minimum sentence of six months and a maximum of three years for persons caught in the act of same-sex activities.
However, persons found guilty of willful promotion or advocating or funding the activities of LGBTQ will, upon conviction, face three years minimum and five years maximum imprisonment. The Ningo-Prampram legislator, who was speaking with a Nigerian-based News Central TV said, “American businesses in Ghana are not in Ghana because of LGBTQ+” and that “they are in Ghana because they make a profit.”
For him, Americans ought to stay away from Ghanaian local politics, stressing that Ghana is a sovereign nation. Mr Sam George called on African nations to be strong and firm in their decisions. He said Americans and Western nations do business with nations such as Qatar and Saudi Arabia, but such nations have death sentences for persons who are caught in same-sex activities.
By: Zadok Kwame Gyesi
