A member of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) has entreated Ghanaians to simply “ignore the negative propaganda being created by the NDC against President Akufo-Addo and his government” on the issue of legalizing homosexuality.
Maame Afia Akoto believes it is an agenda to throw mud at a seasoned lawyer who has deeply ingrained Christian beliefs.
President Akufo-Addo, in an interview he granted Qatar-based TV station, Al Jazeera, noted that if activism in favour of the legalization of homosexuality heightens, that could trigger a change in Ghana’s laws.
“I don’t believe that in Ghana, so far, a sufficiently strong coalition has emerged which is having that impact on public opinion that will say: ‘Change it [the law], let’s then have a new paradigm in Ghana’”.
“I grew up in England; I went to school as a young boy in England and I grew up at a time in England when homosexuality was banned there, it was illegal and I lived in the period when British politicians thought it was anathema to think about changing the law and suddenly the activities of individuals, of groups, a certain awareness, a certain development grew and grew and grew stronger and it forced a change in law. I believe those are the same processes that will bring about changes in our situation.”
“At the moment, I don’t feel and I don’t see that in Ghana, there is that strong current of opinion that will say: ‘This is something that we need even deal with’. It’s not, so far, a matter which is on the agenda,” He said in response to why Ghana’s laws still criminalize homosexuality and what will provoke its legalization.
While some argue that Akufo-Addo’s response is not only president-like but pragmatic and well-informed, others have vehemently scolded him for ‘failing’ to take a firm stance as done by the late President John Atta Mills who in 2011 rubbished the UK’s threat to cut aid if he refused to consider legalizing homosexuality in Ghana.
But Maame Afia Akoto, who was speaking on Kasapa FM’s Morning Show, insists “history shows he (Akufo-Addo) is a profound lawyer, well brought up in a Christian home with a Presbyterian background, who will never undermine his religion and faith”.
Source: Elizabeth Semiheva Bedi/Peacefmonline.com
