Private legal practitioner, Akoto Ampaw, says the gravest threats to the family and value systems in Ghana are adultery and the impregnation of teenagers by heterosexual males.
“Do you note that adultery and the impregnation of teenagers by heterosexual males constitute a far graver threat to the family as a unit? This is obviously undeniable. Indeed, the idea in the Bill that the family is a lifelong relationship or unit is clearly contradicted by the persistent and regular divorces that are lawful under the laws of Ghana,” he said.
Mr Ampaw said this on Thursday when he appeared before the Parliamentary Committee hearing petitions on the Promotion of Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values Bill 2021.
He explained that adultery and the impregnation of teenagers, even though being the gravest of threats to the family system, have been allowed to fester and normalised with no action from legislators to check, especially the impregnation of teenagers.
Proponents of the Bill claim that the Bill must be passed to safeguard the concept of family in the Ghanaian setting.
According to them, should the activities of LGBTQ people be left unchecked, it shall “threaten the concept of family and the associated value systems that are central to the social structure of all ethnic groups in Ghana.”
However, Mr Ampaw believes otherwise.
He, therefore, called on Parliament to reject the “violent” Bill entirely.