Speaker of Parliament, Professor Mike Oquaye
A staunch critic of homosexuality, Professor Mike Oquaye, has hit hard at persons engaged in the practice, describing them as deviants in society who should not be accorded any rights as homosexuals.
The legal luminary, who is also Ghana’s Speaker of Parliament, argued that apart from the fact that persons engaged in homosexuality are humans, they “cannot have a right as gay”.
“You [homosexuals] have a deviant conduct; it’s a deviant conduct like any other deviant conduct,” Prof Oquaye emphatically stated at the maiden Speaker’s Breakfast meeting in Parliament, in Accra on Wednesday.
He, however, said that is no justification for such persons in Ghana to be killed or maimed, indicating the country’s system have a way of handling such matters.
“Of course, it doesn’t mean you [homosexuals] must be killed, it doesn’t mean your arm must be amputated. We don’t do any such thing here. We try to handle the matter; either we teach you medically, or we also handle it psychologically” he said.
“On top of that,” he added, “when it comes to a spiritual connotation and you need deliverance we shall handle it”.
Prof. Oquaye’s comments come on the back of recent fears that some western powers were influencing the government to subtly introduce homosexuality to basic pupils through the controversial Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE).
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and his government has since denied any attempt to introduce any form of homosexuality whatsoever into Ghana’s education curriculum.
Nana Akufo-Addo indicated in the strongest terms that anything against the culture of the people will not be accepted.
The speaker contended that the issue of homosexuality should be a concern for all as its repercussions could affect all Ghanaians.
Describing homosexuality as “corruption of public morals,” he observed that in this era where some people are engaged in bestiality by sleeping with animals, such persons can easily transfer diseases to others not engaged in homosexuality.
“It is a matter of concern to all because some people may have sex with animals, turn round and bring bestiality sicknesses and be having sex with other human beings; then you tell me it is your business, it is not your business”.
For him, Ghanaians should join hands and “say these things” as they are and “stand by them”.
Making a case for Ghanaians to reject any form of homosexuality, he said “there is no single chapter or verse that will support homosexuality in the Bible or the Quran.
“In the African traditional system,” he noted, “you cannot imagine …somebody coming with bear and another coming with a moustache and they say they are going to marry”. As for disguised homosexuality and so on and so forth, we should all stand as one and ensure it is not legalised in Ghana.
He urged Ghanaians to be “firm in our convictions” and “march ahead as Christians, Muslims [and] traditionalists who believe in the pathway for our country”.
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