Though LGBT people are already deemed criminals in the West African nation of Ghana, it seems that persecution of gays and lesbians is only slated to get worse.
Western Region Minister, Paul Evans Aidoo MP, has reportedly ordered police services in the western portion of the nation to round up all suspected homosexuals.
Aidooo has tasked Ghana’s Bureau of National Investigations and security forces to round up the country’s gay population and has called on landlords and tenants to inform on people they suspect of being homosexuals.
“All efforts are being made to get rid of these people in the society,” he said.
This move comes only three days after a press conference by the Christian Council Of Ghana regarding homosexuality and homosexual conduct.
According to the Council’s General Secretary, Reverend Dr. Fred Deegbe, homosexuality is a “an abomination in the eyes of God and also contributes to the growing rate of sexually transmitted diseases” and that Christians should not vote for any political candidate that supports LGBT rights because, “this detestable and abominable act, if passed into law in Ghana, will bring the wrath of God upon the nation and the consequences will be unbearable,”.
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“We Ghanaians and for that matter Africans cherish our rich and strong values on issues such as homosexuality and we must not allow anyone or group of people to impose what is acceptable in their culture on us in the name of human rights,” said Deegbe.
Under current Ghanaian law, homosexual sex is still a punishable offense. The prohibition is contained in Ghana’s Criminal Code, Chapter 6 — Sexual Offenses Article 105 — which states: “Whoever is guilty of unnatural carnal knowledge— (a) of any person without his consent, is guilty of first degree felony; (b) of any person with his consent, or of any animal, is guilty of a misdemeanor.”
