A Policy Analyst at the Integrated Social Development Centre (ISODEC), Mr Bernard Anaba, has advised Parliament to take into consideration Ghana’s relationship with the international community, before taking a decision on the proposed lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, queer/questioning, asexual (LGBTQ)bill.
According to him, Parliament should thoroughly study and scrutinise the bill, and address all resolving contradictions that undermine the United Nations (UN) system of Human Rights, which have a better chance of prevailing against the bill in the long-run.
“The relatively weak economic position and heavy reliance on external financing and grants particularly exposes Ghana to considerable economic impact if diplomatic tensions lead to reduced interest in Ghana.
Ghana has ratified many Global and Regional Covenants on Human Rights, we must take notice of our obligations before passing the anti-gay Rights Bill” he said.
Mr Anaba said this yesterday in Accra at a roundtable discussion on the potential threats the proposed legislation poses to Ghana’s economy, and the economic issues Parliament should consider to maintain the State relations with its international partners.
It was organised by the Centre for Democratic Development-Ghana (CDD-Ghana) in collaboration with the Human Right Coalition to seek stakeholder’s views on the proposed bill.
Mr Anaba said, human right was a dominant pillar in the foundation of the UN system, and it was likely Ghana would lose more financial benefits which would worsen the plight of the economy.
“Currently, Ghana’s economy mostly rely on international grants and loans, as 46 per cent of grants are from foreign donors or partners to support our annual budget.
All indicators point out that, the International community are mostly against this bill, as itpassage could result in the delays and reduction in budgetary support,”Mr Anaba said.
He noted that, the European Union (EU) Global Human Rights Sanctions Regime, established in December 2020, enables the EU to target individuals, entities and bodies including state and non-state actors responsible for, or involved in human rights violations and abuses worldwide.
He stressed that, the Global Human Rights Sanctionsincluded travel ban and freezing of available funding which Ghana was likely to suffer when the LGBTQ bill is passed.
An Economist and Political Risk Analyst, Dr Theophilus Acheampong said, following Ghana’s high debt to some of these international organisations, it would be inappropriate for the House to consider the passage of the bill.
He warned that, the passage would create additional bureaucracies, operational and logistics planning constrains, stressing that, budgetary allocations would be needed to take care of the additional bureaucracies and logistical needed to enforce the law.
BY BERNARD BENGHAN & IGNATIUS AWUAH TANOE BLAY
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