The Deputy Minister-designate for the Ministry of Local Government, Decentralisation and Rural Development, Ekow Assafuah, has called on Parliament to focus on the rehabilitation of homosexuals rather than solely resorting to punitive measures.
He emphasized that Parliament bears the responsibility of ensuring the reformation and seamless integration of individuals with different sexual orientations back into society.
Expressing his support for the anti-LGBTQ+ bill during his vetting by Parliament’s Appointments Committee in Accra on March 11, 2024, Mr. Assafuah underscored his backing for the legislation, aligning it with his Catholic beliefs and cultural background.
“In principle, the LGBTQ bill that has been passed or approved by Parliament is one that I support wholeheartedly because it is in consonance with my tradition and culture. It is in consonance with my formation as a catholic person or practising catholic,” he stated.
While he endorsed the bill, which criminalizes and prohibits LGBTQ activities, he cautioned against merely isolating individuals with different sexual orientations, emphasizing the need for a more holistic approach to address the issue.
The controversial bill, unanimously passed by Parliament on February 28, 2024, criminalizes and prohibits the promotion, advocacy, and funding of LGBTQ activities in the country.
Mr. Assafuah, however, expressed reservations about the punitive measures outlined in the bill, advocating for a focus on reformative approaches to address the underlying issues.
He stressed the importance of punishment being aligned with principles of reformation, urging Parliament to prioritize the responsibility of reforming individuals and reintegrating them into society.
Mr. Assafuah rejected the notion of society giving in to despair and suggested that proper forums and engagements should be established to devise effective strategies for dealing with individuals with different sexual orientations, emphasizing Parliament’s role in fulfilling this responsibility.
“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,” he explained.
“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,” Mr Assafuah stated.