Editor in Chief of the Crusading Guide newspaper says it is mischievous and propagandist for anyone to suggest the president was rallying homosexuals to agitate in order to have their conducts legalized in Ghana.

Malik Kweku Baako Jnr said Nana Akufo-Addo’s comment in a recent Aljazeera interview on homosexuals is no different from the conclusions arrived at by the Constitution Review Committee set up by the late President John Mills and a government white paper issued after the report of the commission was submitted.

He was speaking on Peace FM’s morning show programme Kokrokoo, Wednesday.

The president, Nana Akufo-Addo in a recent interview stated that even though legalizing the conduct of homosexuals is not on the agenda for now, if there is a strong call for it by members of the society, through agitation, the current law on homosexuals may be amended.

Even though Ghana’s law is silent on homosexuality, it criminalizes any act of unnatural carnal knowledge.

Penetration through any other means, other than the vagina is considered unnatural under Ghana’s law.

President Akufo-Addo also stated that presently the practice of homosexuals is at variance with the country’s norms, culture and values.

His comments have a triggered a new wave of controversy, one that was prevalent during the administrations of the late John Mills and ex-president John Mahama.

As usual, the controversy has taken a political twist with the opposition National Democratic Congress accusing the president of setting an agenda for advocates of homosexuals to agitate in order to have Ghana’s law amended to recognize acts of homosexuals.

Supporters of the governing New Patriotic Party have also been vehement in their defence of the president.

When the matter came up for discussion on the Peace FM morning show Wednesday, Kweku Baako Jnr said any attempt to compare the recent comments by the president with the one made by the late John Mills will be an exercise in futility.

He said the context and circumstances under which the two presidents commented on the matter were different.

He said the late Mills’ comment was triggered by a call from former UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown to have UK aid to Ghana tied to the West African country’s position on homosexuals.

The late president was on record to have said that never under his watch would the law on homosexuality be changed.

This context, Kweku Baako argued is different from general comments on homosexuality gleaned from an interview with Aljazeera.

In any case, the Crusading Guide newspaper head said during the Gordon Brown controversy, Nana Akufo Addo, then the opposition candidate was on record to have told the former UK Prime Minister in the face that his comments about homosexuality and UK Aid to Ghana was an imposition of “British values on another sovereign state.”

Constitution Review Commission

For those who were hailing the late president for his seemingly strong public comments on Homosexuality and vilifying president Nana Akufo-Addo for setting an agenda for homosexuality, Kweku Baako Jnr said president’s comments were no different from those captured in the Constitution Review Commission comments which members of the NDC have given approval.

The Commission stated in its report “there was no compelling reason for the commission to address, let alone attempt to deal with the issue [homosexuality] in the present context. The more advisable approach would seem to be to leave the matter for settlement by the Supreme Court in due course. If and when there is enough interest in the matter (and there is sufficiently strong feeling about the issue) those who wish to promote the idea will be able to seek an opinion from the Supreme Court, and the Court will be able, soberly and in its own time, to consider the submissions put before it and issue the interpretation of the constitution in the light of the strength of the arguments advanced.”

Raymond Atuguba was the Executive Secretary of the Constitution Review Commission

The Commission further recommended that the “legality or otherwise of homosexuality be decided by the Supreme Court if the matter comes before the Court.”

 A white paper issued by the then government also stated that the legality of homosexuality be decided by the Supreme Court.

Kweku Baako Jnr stated that if the critics of Akufo-Addo are saying his comments were to incite homosexuals to agitate for the law to be changed, then were the members of the Constitution Review Committee and the government which issued the white paper not also asking the same people to go to the Supreme Court to have the laws changed?

He added, asking the Supreme Court to decide whether homosexuality is legal or not is even more dangerous, because depending on the orientation of the judges involved a decision can easily be made for or against homosexuality.

Allotey Jacobs

The Central Region Chairman of the NDC Allotey Jacobs who was also on the show agreed with Kweku Baako Jnr. 

Even though he believes the act of homosexuality is sinful and could bring unforseen consequences on the nation if allowed to fester, he said the comments made by Akufo-Addo and those contained in the Constitution Review Commission Report and White Paper, which the NDC issued, were significantly the same.