The Member of Parliament (MP) for Ningo Prampram, Sam George, says the United States can only respond to matters of LGBTQ+ rights in Ghana if the US President allows polygamy in his country.
Sam George was reacting to a comment from the United States Ambassador to Ghana, Virginia Palmer who urged Ghanaian MPs to respect the rights of all persons, irrespective of their sexual orientation.
“We are not commenting on the morality of this. We are just asking for people’s rights to be respected so that they be left peaceful and free from harm,” the foreign diplomat told the host of JoyNews‘ Foreign Affairs on JoyNews, Blessed Sogah.
However, Sam George noted that the United States lacks the moral grounding to raise issues about human rights because the country is against marriage to more than one spouse.
“We will take a lecture from the American ambassador when her government decides not to discriminate against people who have a right to polygamy in the United States.
“When the US is able to respect the right of persons to have more than one wife legally, which is allowed in Ghana.
“When they respect the right of persons to marry multiple women or multiple men as they so choose which is also the fundamental human right to association, then we will have a conversation. But until they are able to respect the right of persons in the US who want to be polygamous, then they don’t have any moral right to talk to us.” Sam George said on JoyNews’ The Probe on Sunday.
The MP further stated that until the US signed up with the International Criminal Court, they cannot lecture Ghana on human rights.
“…for now the US government is the last government that should speak about human rights. They are the biggest abusers of human rights and so we will give them a lecture on human rights. They have to respect the fundamental human rights of people and not the other way round.”
The Parliament of Ghana is currently considering the Promotion of Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values 2021 which will amongst other things, prohibit advocacy of same-sex or homosexual practices in the Country.
International organizations have raised concerns that the Bill could infringe on the rights of LGBTQ+ persons who are a minority group in the country.
In spite of these concerns, Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin has indicated that “the sexual rights and human values Bill that is being handled by the committee will definitely be passed before the next elections. That Bill will go through,” he stressed.