The Ho West MP, Emmanuel Kwesi Bedzrah has urged President Akufo-Addo to present to Parliament legislations he will oversee to address the issue of LGBTQI activities in the country.
“I wish [Akufo-Addo] will talk about LGBTQI today [during State of the Nation Address]. He should be emphatic to say, yes, he is going to support the private members' bill that we propose that we will be bringing. I wish he will talk about that. It is very important,” he told JoyNews.
His request comes when President delivers his maiden State of the Nation Address for his second term to inform the citizenry on the socio-economic and political state of the country.
President Akufo-Addo, amidst the controversial issue of LGBTQI, has said his administration would not see to the legislation of same-sex marriage.
“I have said it before, and let me stress it again, that it will not be under the Presidency of Nana Addo Dankwah Akufo-Addo that same-sex marriage will be legal,” he said at the Asante Mampong Anglican Church on February, 27.
However, Mr Kwesi Bedzrah who spoke to JoyNews Parliamentary Correspondent, Kwesi Parker Wilson, said the President in his address to the nation today, must be emphatic on how he plans to deal with an ideology that contradicts the norms, customs and traditions of the Ghanaian society.
According to the NDC MP, his expectation is to see the President support the bill against the LGBTQI community in Ghana.
“Our culture frowns on it and people are not too happy. He made a statement, sure we expect him to make a statement but not only in church but in Parliament,” he added.
Some six MPs have served notice to sponsor a bi-partisan Private Members Bill to criminalise the advocacy and practice of homosexuality.
The said legislators are Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, Emmanuel Kwesi Bedzrah, Andy Appiah Kubi, Kweku Asante Boateng, Helen Adowa Ntoso and Francisca Oteng.
Meanwhile, some pro-gay rights activists in the country have argued that the 1992 Constitution does not explicitly outlaw same-sex relationships aside from its criminalisation of unnatural carnal knowledge.
Therefore, calling on government to protect their interests as citizens after breaking into and closing down the LGBTQI office at Ashongman in Accra.
However, anti-gay rights advocates, National Coalition for Proper Human Sexual Rights and Family Value and religious factions such as the Ghana Pentecostal and Charismatic Council (GPCC), National Peace Council, National Chief Imam have further advanced arguments for the government to dispel the ambiguity surrounding the laws on sexuality.
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