Ghanaian MPs reintroduce controversial anti-LGBTQ+ bill

A group of 10 MPs in Ghana has reintroduced a controversial bill that would enforce some of Africa’s harshest restrictions on LGBTQ+ rights. According to ‘BBC’, this bill proposes a three-year prison sentence for individuals identifying as gay and five to ten years for those who promote or support LGBTQ+ causes. Parliament passed the legislation last year, but former President Nana Akufo-Addo did not sign it into law before leaving office in January, citing legal challenges.

The bill has faced widespread criticism from both local and international human rights organisations, with some labelling it as draconian. When the previous parliament was dissolved ahead of last December’s general election, all bills that had not completed the legislative process, including receiving the president's signature, were discarded. It remains uncertain if the speaker of the new parliament will consider the bill.

In the conservative West African country, gay sex is already punishable by up to three years in prison. President John Mahama has expressed a preference for the bill to be state-sponsored to ensure broader support and consultation. “I do think that we should have a conversation on it again so that all of us, if we decide to move that bill forward, move it forward with a consensus,” he stated.

Proponents of the bill argue that it would help preserve what they view as Ghanaian culture and family values. However, rights groups have strongly criticized the legislation. “The anti-LGBT rights bill is inconsistent with Ghana's long-standing tradition of peace, tolerance, and hospitality and flies in the face of the country's international human rights obligations,” said Human Rights Watch researcher Larissa Kojoué last year. “Such a law would not only further erode the rule of law in Ghana, but could also lead to further gratuitous violence against LGBT people and their allies.”

Va-Bene Elikem Fiatsi, a Ghanaian trans woman and LGBTQ+ activist, told Reuters that the bill’s reintroduction was “disheartening and hard to process,” but she maintained that LGBTQ+ advocacy would persist.

Concerns about the bill's economic impact on Ghana are significant. The former finance minister warned that the bill's passage could cause Ghana to lose up to $3.8 billion (£2.9 billion) in development funding from the World Bank and negatively affect its $3 billion (£2.3 billion) IMF support program.

Opposition lawmaker John Ntim Fordjour told Reuters that the country need not fear economic sanctions, pointing to the election of Donald Trump as US president. “The global political climate is favorable for conservative values as demonstrated in the bold conservative pronouncements of President Donald Trump,” he said.

The bill was initially introduced to parliament in 2021 but has experienced numerous delays.