Former Tamale Central MP, Inusah Fuseini, has voiced his apprehension regarding the passage of the Promotion of the Proper Sexual Human Rights and Ghanaian Family Values Bill, 2021, also known as the anti-LGBTQ bill.
Mr. Fuseini said enacting the bill into law could potentially lead to more issues rather than resolving existing ones.
He further elaborated that such legislation would compel Ghanaians to intrude into the private lives of others.
“If you come out openly to profess you are LGBTQ+, we will not mind you, but if you engage in it to the knowledge of the law enforcement agencies or responsible citizens, we will arrest you and send you to jail and there is already a law dealing with that, and the bill will introduce more problems for us because they say if you are in your house, you have the responsibility to ensure members of the household uphold proper family values,” he said in an interview on CitiTV.
He added that the description of unnatural carnal knowledge in the bill is disturbing and that there is already a law criminalising interfering in people’s private affairs.
“As Africans, we have traditions and that is why LGBTQ+ is facing stiff opposition, and we see it as a cultural re-colonisation, a cultural imposition, and it is not African, and I have said that unnatural carnal knowledge is an inherently private matter. It is a private matter, and we are not concerned about what goes on in the four walls of your bedroom, and that is why I said the bill is trying to create a police state.
“Why should we use state resources preying on people’s private affairs when it is already an offence to do so?” he asked.
Ahead of its first reading, the Promotion of the Proper Sexual Human Rights and Ghanaian Family Values Bill, 2021 faced two legal challenges due to concerns about its compliance with the constitution.
Additionally, Speaker of Parliament Alban Bagbin faced a contempt charge for allowing the House to proceed with the bill’s discussion while legal actions were pending.
However, during the court hearing on Wednesday, the Supreme Court dismissed the request to halt Parliament’s consideration of the bill.
Presided over by Chief Justice Gertrude Torkonoo, the nine-member Supreme Court panel stated that it was not convinced to issue such an order at this stage. The court reasoned that the issues raised would be addressed in the substantive case.