Ghana’s attorney general and justice minister Godfred Yeboah Dame has criticised parts of the country’s anti-LGBTIQ bill as ‘unnecessary’ and ‘unconstitutional’.
But Dame’s legal opinion on the Promotion of Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values Bill, made public yesterday, has come under fire from LGBTIQ rights campaigners as he appears to largely agree with the objectives of the bill, and even suggests a broader definition of ‘unnatural carnal knowledge’ to include sexual relations between women, which is not criminalised by current Ghana law.
Activists fear it could signal that Ghana’s ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) will back the bill when it goes to a vote. The proposed law originated with eight opposition backbenchers, and NPP chair Freddie Blay has even previously spoken against it, saying: “Leave the gays alone.”
