Let vote on anti-LGBT bill be open, not secret – Dormaahene pleads with Speaker of Parliament

The Dormaahene, Osagyefo Oseadeeyo Agyemang Badu II, has pleaded with the Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, to make the voting by Members of Parliament (MPs) to approve the Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values Bill, 2021 (Anti-LGBTQI bill), an open ballot.

According to him, it is important that the MPs vote in the open so their constituents will see whether they are voting to protect their customs or not.

Osagyefo Agyemang Badu II, who made these remarks while addressing a gathering in Dormaa, in a video shared by Abranpredease TV, vowed to ensure that all MPs who vote against the approval of the anti-LGBTQI bill are removed.

“I am pleading with the Speaker of Parliament, Mr Alban Bagbin, that he should ensure that the voting to approve the anti-LGBTQI bill is not done in secret.

He should mention the names of the MPs one by one so that they will vote on the bill in the open. He should mention Kweku Agyemang Manu, Dormaa Central, for him to vote in the open so that we will see how he voted. All the MPs in Dormaa; Dormaa West, Dormaa East, Tano North, Sunyani East, Sunyani West; should vote in the open.

“And I am saying here today that all the MPs who are in my territories if you vote that a man and a man can have sex as well as a woman and another woman, I will make sure you are removed. Even if you are not in any of my territories, I will work with your chief and we will campaign against you to make sure you are removed,” he said in Twi.

The chief added that all the presidential aspirants for the 2024 elections should be made to declare their stance on the issue of LGBTQI being accepted in Ghana.

Meanwhile, Parliament is expected to debate and pass the Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values Bill, 2021 (Anti-LGBTQI bill).

This is after the Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Committee of Parliament presented the final draft of the, which was sponsored by a group of bi-partisan Members of Parliament led by Ningo Prampram MP Sam Nartey George, to the plenary.

If the bill is passed, persons who engage in anti-LGBTQI activities as well as those who advocate for the acceptance of these activities in Ghana are likely to be punished.