By Emmanuel Nii Sackey
The minority caucus in Parliament has accused President Mahama and his administration of strategically shifting their stance and abandoning the principles they previously championed, particularly concerning LGBTQ+ issues.
According to the minority, the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) perceived the anti-LGBTQ+ bill not merely as a moral matter but also as a strategic political tool. During the 2024 election campaign, they engaged various stakeholders—including the general public, media, religious leaders, civil society groups, and traditional rulers—to portray the then-ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) government as indecisive and disconnected from Ghanaian moral values.
At a press briefing at the party headquarters in Asylum Down, Accra, the Ranking Member of the Committee on Defense and Interior and co-sponsor of the bill, Hon. Ntim Fordjour, accused President Mahama of having previously pledged to sign the legislation into law upon assuming office. He further stated that President Mahama had alleged that former President Nana Dankwa Akufo-Addo delayed the bill’s passage due to reliance on foreign aid, asserting that if Ghana were self-reliant, no foreign entity could influence its laws.
President Mahama publicly depicted himself as the unwavering defender of Ghanaian family values.Hon. Fordjour contended that the NDC had weaponized LGBTQ+ propaganda to garner electoral support. He questioned whether Ghana needed infrastructural development, employment, education, and healthcare while the president was traversing the country, promising the clergy, imams, traditional rulers, and the public that he would expedite the passage of the bill.
He emphasized that, instead of promoting Ghanaian family values through education, the president, via the Education Minister, Haruna Iddrisu, had introduced LGBTQ+ definitions and concepts into the curriculum during the first week of the semester.
This inclusion aimed to indoctrinate students with the idea that gender identity extends beyond the traditional binary of male and female, emphasizing individual inner feelings rather than biological assignment at birth.Hon. Fordjour further stated that the NDC exploited genuine moral concerns among Ghanaians to gain political advantage, only to abandon these principles once in power. They now prioritize international appeasement and political expediency over societal values.
The minority therefore called on President John Dramani Mahama to realign his priorities with the majority of Ghanaians, citing a survey by CDD Ghana and Afrobarometer indicating that 93% of Ghanaians find LGBTQ practices highly objectionable and inconsistent with societal and religious beliefs.Additionally, the minority urged religious leaders, Muslim clerics, community organizations, traditional authorities, and civil society groups to publicly condemn the NDC and President Mahama for their apparent U-turn on LGBTQ issues.
They emphasized the importance of continued advocacy for the passage of the pending legislation and called for President Mahama to sign it into law promptly once enacted by the ninth Parliament.