I’m Not Promoting Gays – Akufo-Addo

The President Nana Akufo-Addo has said it is not true he is conspiring with the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) community to promote homosexuality in Ghana.

Nana Addo made this known when he was asked a direct question on the issue during the Presidential Encounter, held at the Flagstaff House, on Wednesday.

Responding to whether or not his comments on Al Jazeera were part of a grand scheme to push for the legalisation of the ‘locally’ abhorred act in Ghana, Nana Addo said: “I am not involved in any conspiracies. I am not part of any conspiracy to promote anything.

“I think these are matters in the public domain. People are entitled to agitate as they wish,” he said.

The president, in a recent interview with Al Jazeera on why LGBT rights were not legalised in Ghana, said he did not believe “a sufficiently strong coalition has emerged which is having that impact on public opinion” that would cause a change. But he added “it is bound to happen.”

His otherwise harmless submissions generated internal controversies in Ghana leaving both critics and well-meaning Ghanaians jaw-dropped on why the president had not been emphatic on his stand.

Succeeding his “ambiguous” accessions, some human rights and gay communities like the Human Rights Watch’s (HRW) have had their confidence boosted requesting a repeal of section 104(1)(b) of the Criminal Offences Act, 1960 prohibiting and punishing “unnatural carnal knowledge.

The President this time around in the glaring eyes of the media reiterated his stand that, “There is no concerted synchronised attempt on my part to promote the advocacy of it.”

By: Grace Ablewor Sogbey/ [email protected]