Private legal practitioner and member of the New Patriotic Party, Lawyer Akoto Ampaw has criticised the Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values Bill, because it seeks to needlessly criminalise sympathy and support for the LGBTQ+ community in Ghana.

Advancing his arguments at the start of Parliament’s public hearing on the bill on Thursday, Mr. Akoto Ampaw explained that, to the best of his knowledge, the bill grossly undermines the fundamental human rights of the LGBTQ community, for which reason the bill should be discarded in its entirety.

In expressing his reservations, Mr Akoto Ampaw further alluded to the fact that, the bill also places an unhealthy gag on citizens who may want to engage in discussions on LGBTQ; a situation which he believes undermines the spirit of the 1992 Constitution.

‘Again, Mr. Chair, clause 12 of the bill contravenes the fundamental rights to freedom of expression in speech; including media freedom, guaranteed under Article 21 (1a) of the Constitution. It goes to the absurd extent of criminalising sympathy for a prohibited act. And promotion of support for change of public opinion,” Mr. Akoto Ampaw said.

Mr. Akoto Ampaw and other revered academics are therefore urging Parliament to refrain from promulgating the bill into law.

In their view, citizens should be allowed to embrace their preferred sexual options without any legislations to regulate what individuals do in their closets.

But this stance has been strongly refuted by Member of Parliament for the Ningo-Prampram Constituency, Sam Nartey George, who is leading the charge for the passage of the bill into law.

According to Sam George and his colleague proponents, the practice of LGBTQ is an affront to Ghana’s cultural values, for which reason all well meaning Ghanaians should clamour against it.

Parliament has therefore commenced a public hearing on the bill to collate the thoughts and inputs of all relevant stakeholders, in bringing finality to the issue.

The hearing, which begun on Thursday features persons from civil society organisations, faith-based communities, the press and Members of Parliament in that regard.