A Deputy Minister-designate for the Ministry of Local Government, Decentralisation, and Rural Development, Vincent Ekow Assafuah, has affirmed his support for the passage of the anti-LGBTQ+ bill.

However, he believes that mere ostracisation of individuals from the LGBTQ+ community is not the solution.

Mr Assafuah advocated for Parliament to focus on the rehabilitation and reintegration of homosexuals into society rather than simply excluding them.

The bill, officially passed by Parliament on February 28, is aimed at regulating Human Sexual Rights and Family Values, commonly referred to as the anti-LGBTQ+ bill.

It prohibits LGBTQ+ activities and criminalises their promotion, advocacy, and funding.

According to the provisions of the bill, individuals engaged in such acts could face sentences ranging from six months to three years, while promoters and sponsors could be subjected to imprisonment for three to five years.

Addressing the bill during his vetting by Parliament's Appointments Committee in Accra on Monday, March 11, Mr Assafuah stressed that it is Parliament's responsibility to facilitate the reformation and successful integration of LGBTQ+ individuals back into society.

“However, there are reasons for punishment to be meted out to people. There is a principle behind punishment and one of the principles is to ensure that a person is being reformed out of a criminal activity.

"And so, if we have to reform persons, do we have to mete out punishment that seems to ostracise the person from society? It seems that as a society, we are bringing out our failures in the sense that we are showing our inability or incapacity to be able to reform people or if you like put people through sessions that reintroduce such persons into society. If we are not able to do so. That is where I see the failure.”

“It seems we are throwing our hands in despair. I am making a strong point that as a Parliament, we should be very interested in reforming our people. That is our responsibility as a people.

"We cannot say that there is a supposed anticipation of gay persons being lynched if they are given community service and so because of that as the people’s representatives we are throwing our hands in despair to allow such persons just to go astray.

“That cannot be our course. Let’s have a proper forum, let’s have proper engagements to see how best we can deal with such persons. It is our responsibility to do so,” he stated.