{"id":16956,"date":"2024-03-14T12:47:00","date_gmt":"2024-03-14T12:47:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/2024\/03\/14\/in-deciding-on-anti-gay-law-ghanas-president-is-caught-between-a-rock-and-a-hard-place\/"},"modified":"2024-03-14T12:47:00","modified_gmt":"2024-03-14T12:47:00","slug":"in-deciding-on-anti-gay-law-ghanas-president-is-caught-between-a-rock-and-a-hard-place","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/2024\/03\/14\/in-deciding-on-anti-gay-law-ghanas-president-is-caught-between-a-rock-and-a-hard-place\/","title":{"rendered":"In deciding on anti-gay law, Ghana\u2019s president is caught between a rock and a hard place"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Sam George, the driving force behind Ghana\u2019s harsh anti-LGBTQ legislation, portrays himself as a guardian of gay Ghanaians. <\/p>\n

But despite his claims, the bill, signed into law late last month by Ghana\u2019s parliament, imposes severe penalties merely for identifying as LGBTQ, with fines or up to three years in prison. Someone convicted of \u201cpromoting\u201d gay rights can get up to five years behind bars, according to the bill. <\/p>\n

In a relatively short time, the opposition member of parliament,\u00a0who represents a constituency of the greater Accra region and is the bill\u2019s main sponsor,\u00a0has become a well-known face in Ghana and a regular feature on television. <\/p>\n

The passage of the Human Sexual Rights and Family Values act unopposed in parliament in late February is a resounding victory for George and a coalition of religious and secular conservatives in Ghana. It is also part of a worrying trend of homophobic bills sweeping the continent. <\/p>\n

By his admission,\u00a0George has traveled to the United States to meet with like-minded conservatives pushing \u201cfamily values.\u201d He says he\u00a0covers his own expenses. <\/p>\n

Making inequality legal<\/h2>\n

Whatever its origins, the bill\u2019s passage is terrible news for LGBTQ Ghanaians. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe sentiment and emotion we are expressing right now is sadness,\u201d said Alex Kofi Donkor, the founder of LGBT+ Rights in Ghana, an advocacy group. \u201cThe passage of this bill is only going to give legitimacy to the inequality that we face here in this country.\u201d <\/p>\n

He says the bill, \u00a0if it becomes law,\u00a0would further impact access to legal and medical services in Ghana. <\/p>\n

Now, it is up to President Nana Akufo-Addo: to sign or not to sign. <\/p>\n

The question is, what will he do? In the context of local politics,\u00a0Akufo-Addo faces difficult choices and competing pressure points. <\/p>\n

After all, it\u2019s an election year in Ghana,\u00a0with polls set for\u00a0early December. <\/p>\n

On one side, you have politicians like George and a broadly conservative citizenry that will publicly goad the president to act. On the other, an international community poised to punish Ghana should Akufo-Addo sign. <\/p>\n

Ghana can ill-afford punitive measures. A darling of multilateral lenders as recently as five years ago, rampant inflation and a colossal debt load have crushed Ghana\u2019s economy, though there are tentative signs of improvement. <\/p>\n

The government quickly pounced on the financial implications of the bill. <\/p>\n

Soon after its passage, Ghana\u2019s Ministry of Finance published an internal memo stating that \u201cin total, Ghana is likely to lose US$3.8 billion in World Bank Financing over the next five to six years\u201d because of the bill. <\/p>\n

However, George disputes the ministry numbers. He points to the continued International Monetary Fund (IMF) line of credit to Uganda, despite that country\u2019s own\u00a0recently-passed\u00a0homophobic law. <\/p>\n

The World Bank, however, did suspend future financing in Uganda and the US State Department sanctioned Ugandans that were \u201cundermining democracy and suppressing marginalized groups.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cThe problem with Ghana is not loans from multilateral institutions. The problem in Ghana is endemic corruption and overspending by government,\u201d said George. <\/p>\n

A way out<\/h2>\n

While the Ministry of Finance appears to be\u00a0offering the president\u00a0an elegant way out, it\u2019s the courts that could save him from making a choice. <\/p>\n

In a recent address to diplomats in Ghana, Akuffo-Ado said that no decision will be taken on the bill until a challenge,\u00a0brought by\u00a0a\u00a0Ghanaian lawyer, is heard at the country\u2019s\u00a0Supreme Court. <\/p>\n

The president also made assurances that Ghana would not be \u201cturning her back on, hitherto, enviable, longstanding record on human rights observance and attachment to the rule of law.\u201d <\/p>\n

It is one thing to mollify foreign diplomats of Western capitals;\u00a0it is quite another to be seen to be supporting LGBTQ rights in Ghana, where politicians and religious leaders have been whipping up homophobic sentiment. <\/p>\n

Despite the bill\u2019s alleged links to US groups, its supporters are also framing it as a matter of sovereignty \u2013 which can be a powerful political argument in Ghana. <\/p>\n

\u201cGhana is not the 51st State of the United States or any other Western state. In the context of Ghana, we should not give rights to a person to practice a sexual preference other than what is natural and acceptable by society,\u201d said George. <\/p>\n

For Ghana\u2019s president, navigating this intricate political landscape looks set to be a daunting \u2013 and unenviable \u2013 task. <\/p>\n\n

This post appeared first on cnn.com<\/div>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sam George, the driving force behind Ghana\u2019s harsh anti-LGBTQ legislation, portrays himself as a guardian of gay Ghanaians. But despite his claims, the bill, signed into law late last month by Ghana\u2019s parliament, imposes severe penalties merely for identifying as LGBTQ, with fines or up to three years in prison. Someone convicted of \u201cpromoting\u201d gay <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":16957,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-16956","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16956","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16956"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16956\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16957"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16956"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16956"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16956"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}