Private legal practitioner, Akoto Ampaw says Ghanaians who hold the assertion that due to majority support, the proposed Promotion of Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values Bill, 2021 should be passed into law, are not well informed about how a democratic state runs.

Speaking on JoyNews' PM Express, Mr Ampaw stated that in a democratic state, the majority's will is recognized and the rights and views of the minority are also not oppressed.

According to him, the constitution safeguards the rights of the minority due to the possible abusive nature of the majority.

He, therefore, noted that the discussion on whether same-sex related activities should be made illegal in the country cannot be reduced to a numbers game, where the majority carries the day.

"The whole idea about a democratic society is not simply doing what the majority says or wills. That is not democracy. Democracy whiles recognizing the majority's will, must always protect the minority's rights and views and ensure that through the process of majoritarianism, you do not repress minority.

"That is a very fundamental principle of democracy and that is why you have safeguards in constitutions. The constitution provides safeguards so that the majority cannot use their majority to invade those safeguards that protect the minority.

"So, it is our position that the question of this bill is not a numbers question. It is not how many people support the bill in Ghana then you throw up your hands," he told Evans Mensah.

His comments come as a response to a reference cited by Member of Parliament for Ningo-Prampram, Sam Nartey George who in a interview on the Pulse on JoyNews stated that the two groups that have sent documents to Parliament’s Committee on Constitutional, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs making a case against the proposed Anti LGBTQ+ bill cannot override the desire of the majority.

According to Sam George, majority of Ghanaians do not want to tolerate same-sex relationships or people with different sexual orientations.

This he said is contained in an afrobarometer survey conducted by CDD-Ghana. Per the data, 93 per cent of Ghanaians do not want homosexuality to be practiced in the country.

“If you go to page seven of that report, social tolerance in Ghana is extremely high. Ghanaians are tolerant of different ethnicities by 92%, different religions by 91%, different political parties by 90%, different immigrant and foreign workers by 74%, but these same Ghanaians are only 7% tolerant of homosexuals. It tells you what the people of Ghana wants.”

“We are not ready to tolerate it, that is who we are, our people say they don’t want it. These personalities do not hold the torch, whatsoever, to the strength of the collective will of the majority of Ghanaians and their personal agendas will not override the desire of the majority of the people,” he told Ayisha Ibrahim, the host of the show.

Mr Nartey George was reacting to a memorandum presented to Parliament to reject the said bill because it infringes on the human rights of individuals.

But Mr Ampaw says the majority pushing for the passage of the bill have no right to say "you (minority) cannot exist in a democratic republic."

"Because the laws of the republic guarantee the humanity of every person, not only Ghanaians. If you go to Article 21, it says every person, not every Ghanaian, so the person can come from anywhere, if he is in Ghana, the constitution protects his freedom of expression, relation, his freedom not to be discriminated against.

"We see that as dangerous for our democracy because if today it is homosexuals, tomorrow God forbid, it may be Buddhist, the next day it may be something else and before you are aware, running on this stream of majority and not what the constitution is saying, you'll find out that step by step, our freedoms are being eroded," he added.