Member of Parliament for Ningo-Prampram and the lead advocate for the recently passed Proper Human Sexual Rights and Family Values Bill, Sam George, has called out the National Peace Council for its stance on the current controversies surrounding the Bill.
The MP, reacting to a question on the posture of the council regarding the anti-gay bill on 3FM accused them of being hypocrites “who have sold their conscience like the way Esau sold his birthright for a bowl of porridge.”
“The peace Council is a disgrace and a shame. I’ve said this before and I’m saying this again. The Peace Council is one of the biggest problems of this country. They are hypocrites, extremely hypocritical. The peace council has become a very political organization,” he told the host. “It should be disbanded for the sake of Ghana’s peace.The peace Council is a threat to our peace as a country. They are a bunch of hypocrites who have sold their conscience like the way Esau sold his birthright for a bowl of porridge.”
On Sunday, the chairman of the National Peace Council, Rev. Dr Ernest Adu-Gyamfi, said it has no position on the Human Sexual Rights and Family Values Bill which was passed by parliament a week ago.
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Rev. Dr Adu-Gyamfi said Sunday that although a lot of stakeholders are pressuring the council to declare a clear stance on the issue, the council remains neutral given its role as a mediating body in the country.
“We don’t have a position on the passage of the anti-LGBTQ+ bill because we are mediators, we don’t take sides on issues like this. There are several issues that have come to us that people expected us to take sides, but realised it was important to remain neutral when they later came for conflict resolution,” he said on TV3.
But this stance of the council does sit well with Mr Sam George who has been a fierce advocate of the Bill, almost responding to every right and advocacy group that has expressed concern about it (the bill). He asked the council to bow their heads in shame for taking such a position.
“The men and women who sit on the peace council, if they have any conscience and if they fear the God that they say they serve and worship, they should bow their head in shame,” he said.
Ghana’s parliament unanimously passed the controversial Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values Bill after about three years of deliberation.
Under this new bill, anyone found engaging in LGBTQ+ practices will be subject to a mandatory minimum sentence of 6 months, with the potential for up to 3 years imprisonment.
The bill also prescribes a maximum of five (5) years for the willful promotion, sponsorship, or support of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer+ (LGBTQ+) activities in the country.