Most Reverend Joseph Osei-Bonsu, the Catholic Bishop of Konongo-Mampong has criticised President Akufo-Addo for not being consistent with his comments on LGBTQI+ issues.
According to him, President Akufo-Addo has been inconsistent on LGBTQI issues from 2017 when he granted an interview on Aljazeera and said there was no “sufficiently strong coalition” to cause a change in Ghana’s laws regarding LGBTQI issues.
In an open letter, Rev. Osei-Bonsu said President Akufo-Addo, during the Aljazeera interview should have pointed out to the journalist that “homosexuality indeed remains a criminal offence in Ghana, making reference to Section 104 of the Ghanaian Criminal Code of 1960 which criminalises consensual same-sex sexual acts between persons of the same gender.”
He also slammed President Akufo-Addo for his recent comments on the topic during the visit of the American Vice President, Kamala Harris.
Kamala Harris pressed on Ghana to respect the rights of homosexuals to which President Akufo-Addo said his government has intervened and modified the “Promotion of Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values 2021” bill.
Rev. Osei-Bonsu added that “President must be able to point out to those pushing for the recognition of gay rights that the rights of homosexuals as persons do not include the right of a man to marry a man or of a woman to marry a woman. We need to stress that LGBTQ+ activities are not part of what is described as fundamental human rights and cannot be included in the list of human rights.”
