Ghanaian popular lawmaker, Sam George, on Platforms Africa e-discourse, frowns at misinformation on anti-LGBTQ+ bill, alleges possible threat to his and lives of bill’s 7 other promoters
A prominent member of Ghanaian Parliament, Sam George, has declared that the government of Ghana, in 2020 alone, spent $200 million subsidising the cost of anti-retroviral drugs for persons who have HIV/AIDS, a viral infection surging majorly, according to him, by men having sex with men (MsM) and homosexuals.
George, a lawmaker representing the Ningo Prampram constituency, stated this when he featured as the lead discussant on Platforms Africa e-Discourse where he also frowned at heaps of deliberate misinformation about the bill.
Platforms Africa, led by an award-winning journalist, Adeola Yusuf, is an e-community of intellectuals, policy moulders and opinion leaders in the continent with the mission of creating and sustaining cycles of informed Africans about major issues.
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Fielding questions from, Francis Kokutse, one of the moderators of the Platforms Africa forum e-discourse, George said; “It is a bill to promote proper human sexual rights and the Ghanaian family values.”
Article 39 of the Ghanaian constitution, according to him, “is clear that the State shall take steps to inculcate the right Ghanaian values, customary values into society. The Constitution of Ghana states clearly that the National House of Chiefs is the custodian of Ghana’s custom.
“This bill is supported by the Ghana National House of Chiefs. Our fourth consultative forum, which was held in the Ashanti Regional Capital, Kumasi, was actually sponsored by the National House of Chiefs and the President of the National House of Chiefs where Ghanaian culture forbids homosexuality.”
Frowning at misinformation in circulation about the bill, George stated that this “includes the outright lie that the bill is set out to legalise hate and homophobia in Ghana, slam a 10 year imprisonment of violators and that sponsoring a bill like this is the least of the problems in Ghana.”
He said; “It is a misinformation to say that anybody who is found guilty would be jailed for 10 years. Section 62 of the bill says “a person who commits an offense under paragraph A,B, C, D, E, F, G of subsection 1, which is the section that lists all the offenses, commits a second degree felony and is liable on summary conviction to a fine of not less that 750 penalty units, and more that 5,000 penalty units or to a term of imprisonment not less than 3 years or not more than five years or both.”
He continued; “The Government of Ghana in 2022 spent $200m subsidising the cost of anti-retroviral drugs for persons who have HIV/AIDS. The Ghana Aids Commission is telling us that men having sex with men (MsM), homosexuals are leading the surge in HIV prevalence in Ghana. $200 million would have fixed a lot of problems in my country.
He added that consideration of the Bill could extend to 2022.
“It is not a matter of days. It is a matter of weeks and months,” for the consideration of the Bill by Parliament, he said.
“Given the thorough nature of the work we want them to do, I think it will be unfair to expect that we can complete this before the House rises [in December 2021],” he explained.
“With the budget coming in on the 17th of November, I am not sure that we can finish it, however, the leadership will determine the business of the House,” Mr. George added.
