Dormaahene go wild on Parliament, threatens to mass 1000's of youth to Oppose LGBTQI

The Dormaahene and president of the Bono Regional House of Chiefs, Osagyefo Oseadeyo Agyemang Badu II has gone wild at Ghana’s Parliament for the ongoing controversies surrounding the passage of the anti LGBTQI bill.

He is daring the legislature to try succumbing to the pressures from the Human Rights Campaigners and abandon the passage of the bill else he will mass up 1000s of youth to face them in the parliament house.

Ghana is mulling an anti-gay law that will criminalize LGBTQ+ advocacy and jail LGBTQ+ people for at least five years.

It may seem like the proposed bill will easily receive parliamentary endorsement and presidential assent in this socially conservative country.

However, a spirited opposition by influential citizens as well as donor agencies – and the surprising silence of government officials – sends a different signal.

Discussions about LGBTQ+ rights in Ghana touch on sensitive chords: culture and religion. Crusaders behind the bill base their arguments on the belief that LGBTQ+ activities are alien to the country’s cultural norms and values, and are also frowned upon by all major religious groups in Ghana.

The Christian Council of Ghana, an umbrella body of Christian churches in Ghana has declared its support to the bill.

“The council wishes to state unequivocally that it supports the bill and prays that it will see the light today… Let us protect the good family system that we have inherited from our forebears,” it said in an official statement.

In February, when early bells for an anti-LGBTQ+ law began ringing, the Office of the National Chief Imam, said: “Homosexuality is a deviant behaviour totally unacceptable in Islam. Although our religion allows us the latitude to ponder and reconsider some issues, homosexuality is certainly not one of them”.

Out of the eight parliamentarians who signed off on the draft bill, only one John Ntim Fordjour, a conservative preacher and long-known anti-gay activist are from the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP).

“It is a bold step to take. It has earned him my respect because he stood by what his convictions are and he has damned the consequences,” said Sam George, an NDC member of parliament who is leading the crusade.

According to him, NPP lawmakers were expected to append their signatures but because of the challenges some of those MPs may have been put under on the day of signing, they declined.

But the Dormaahene addressing a media after communal labour embarks in one of the communities in the area said, over his dead body will he sit aloof to watch such uncultured practices be allowed in the country.

He charged all chiefs within his kingship area to report anyone involved in the practice of LGBQI for them to be dealt with.

Nana Ama Asiedu, Bono Region