Political Scientist at the University of Ghana, Prof. Ransford Gyampo, has stated that celebrating Ghana’s Independence Day is an impractical waste of the country’s scarce resources. He indicated that so long as Ghana keeps yielding to the imposition of Western ideals that insult the sensibility of Ghanaians and disregard Ghanaian societal values, celebrating independence is useless.
He argued that to qualify as a leader of a particular people, one must typify the features, beliefs, and values of the overall generality of the people he or she represents and serves, else he or she is unqualified and must be challenged.
“The Judiciary isn’t above the Executive. Theoretically, they are at par. But in Ghana, our Constitution makes the President a Political King-Kong. The sudden humility of the King-Kong before the Judiciary is good but highly suspicious”.
Prof. Ransford Gyampo
Prof. Gyampo further indicated that the role of a President in a democracy is not dependent on the decision of an appointed judge or the judiciary as a whole. He noted that the President’s clandestine stance against a societal value – the anti-LGBTQ bill – is a needless political suicide that should ideally, be avoided.
He further stated that it is dehumanizing to allow the wish of the minority, who are against the anti-LGTBQ bill, to prevail over the wish of the majority of Ghanaians to see the bill passed for a meager amount of US$ 3.8 billion. He argued that Ghana’s humanity, naturalness, and cultural values are priceless and cannot be compromised in one form or the other to achieve any goal. “Where are the owners of our land?” he quizzed.
Prof. Gyampo indicated that the country can do well without external funding if leaders manage the economy well enough. He argued that the President’s remark that he, the President, will wait on the decision of the Supreme Court is impractical and reasoned that the practice of Checks and Balances does not put the position of the Judiciary above the Executive.
Chronicles Of The Anti-LQBTQ Bill
The President of Ghana, H.E Akufo-Addo noted early on that he will wait on the decision of the Supreme Court to determine whether or not he will assent to the Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values bill, generally known as the anti-LGBTQ bill.
The President in his bid to assure the diplomatic community of Ghana’s dedication to promoting and protecting human rights indicated that he would only assent to the bill if the Supreme Court ruled that the bill would not infringe on the rights of any group of people in Ghana.
The President’s remarks came as a contradiction to his earlier remark in 2023 which indicated his readiness to assent to the bill if the majority of Ghanaians wanted him to. However, the President reneged on his decision after the bill was unanimously passed in Parliament.
Also, the Minister of Finance wrote to the President imploring him not to assent to the anti-LGBTQ bill. The reason the Minister gave was that the country relies on approximately US$ 3.8 billion in financial assistance from the international community annually for budget support. He indicated that the country risks losing this sum of money and other assistance from the international community if the President assents to the bill.
Meanwhile, the lead sponsor of the bill, Hon. Samuel Nartey George, indicated that if the President fails to assent to the bill, the bill would be passed by a two-thirds majority of Parliament to make it law.
He claimed that the lawsuit filed by a detractor of the bill, Richard Dela Sky, and the letter by the Minister of Finance were just plots by the President to avoid assenting to the bill that the majority of Ghanaians want passed.
The anti-LGBTQ bill which has not been submitted to the office of the President yet has caused more controversy from its inception until now, than any other bill had in the Fourth Republic. While international pressure continues to mount on the President not to assent to the bill, and internal pressure seeks to ensure he assents to it, Ghanaians can only wait to see which of the pressures the President will succumb to.
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