The Fundraising Coordinator of Amnesty International Ghana, Samuel Agbotsey, has called on the membership of the Constitution and Legal Affairs Committee of Parliament to settle their differences as they work towards ensuring the Anti-LGBT+ bill is made more effective.
Mr Agbotsey revealed that the tension between members of the Committee and the Chairman does not augur well for the developments needed to ensure that the bill when finally passed will “stand the test of time”.
According to the fundraising coordinator of Amnesty International Ghana, considering the quantum of memos that have been submitted to the Committee alone tells one how this bill has generated local and international attention. As such, he noted that for a law that has generated this amount of controversy and interest from individuals and from groups, both local and international, there is the need for one to take his time and do a thorough job.
“This is not a bill the Committee should be divided over how to go about it because they need a lot more concentration and unity of purpose and togetherness to have a law that is representative of the needs and aspirations of Ghanaians. But it looks as if they’re divided, the Chairman is not carrying the committee members with them and that is a bit of a concern to us so that we do not divide ourselves in terms of this bill and then at the end rush into the bill and later regret that we should have considered this, considered that and so on.”
Samuel Agbotsey
Committee on anti-LGBTQI urged to resolve issues
Mr Agbotsey highlighted that the bill is not one of those bills that one could “just scratch through within 3 [to] 4 months” and it is passed. He expressed that it will be prudent for members of the committee to exercise a bit of restrain to allow the committee to consult more.
“Our only disappointment is the disagreement between the Chairman and the membership of the Committee.”
Samuel Agbotsey
Elaborating on the division within the Committee, Mr Agbotsey explained that it could affect the work done on the bill leading to important issues in the document left unanalysed. To rectify the situation, he called on the Chairman of the Committee to be transparent in keeping both sides of the divide in the know on what is happening concerning the bill.
“So, our appeal to the Chairman is to reconsider his approach and attempt to carry the entire committee with him so that we have a serene state of mind to do a thorough job.”
Samuel Agbotsey
On his part, the Member of Parliament for South Dayi, Rockson-Nelson Dafeamekpor, entreated the leaders of Parliament’s Constitutional and Legal Affairs Committee to represent strongly the views of the Ghanaian majority on LGBT+ issues at the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association Conference in the United Kingdom.
Mr Dayi indicated that as a member of the Committee and as one of the sponsors, the expectation is that the Chairman, the Vice, the ranking and the Deputy have become “our ambassadors” of this country at the forum.
“They must carry the hearts and the mind of this country at that forum. They have to speak the mind of the majority of Ghanaians on this matter. If they say anything otherwise, then we’ll have problems with them. And so it’s as simple as that.”
Rockson-Nelson Dafeamekpor
