The Ghanaian parliament passed even stricter anti-gay legislation on Wednesday. In the West African country, according to this law, people should now be able to get three years in prison if they are classified as LGBTI. writes the BBC. In addition, a sentence of five years in prison should apply if people form an LGBTI group or finance such a group. Sex with a person of the same sex has long been prohibited. The bill, backed by Ghana’s two largest parties, still needs to be signed by Ghanaian President Nana Akufo-Addo.
The new legislation would be a response to the opening of the first LGBTI community center in the Ghanaian capital Accra in 2021. That center was quickly closed again after protests and pressure from religious groups. Conservative Christian forces from the US and Europe are said to be behind the anti-gay laws in Ghana and other African countries, including Uganda.
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Behind the anti-gay laws in Africa are conservative Christian forces from the US and Europe
Not signed before elections
President Akufo-Addo previously indicated that he would sign the proposal if the majority of Ghanaians wanted this. Yet it is unlikely that Akufo-Addo will sign before the national elections at the end of this year, he writes Al Jazeera. It is still unclear whether the Ghanaian authorities will enforce the law if it is introduced. No one has ever been prosecuted in Ghana for the existing ban on sex with a person of the same sex.
However, there are concerns among several groups. Human rights organization Amnesty International announced at the beginning of this year that the government’s proposed law “poses a significant threat to the fundamental rights and freedoms of LGBTI people.” Activists also fear a witch hunt on people from the LGBTI community and believe that several will be forced to go into hiding. Winnie Byanyima, head of the UN’s AIDS Department, said the law would “exacerbate fear and hatred, could incite violence against Ghanaian citizens and negatively impact freedom of expression.”
Since MP Samuel Nartey George introduced the first version of the bill last year, the number of incidents of violence against LGBTI people in Ghana has increased exponentially. Fischere Richard Kwofie, lawyer and director of NGO QuGEF, said this in 2023 NRC. Kwofie: “I receive reports every day about new attacks against my community.”