During an interview on Al-Jazeera with Jane Dutton, the discussion involved many issues, one of these was the matter of homosexuality, where Nana Akufo-Addo expressed the opinion that a legalisation of homosexuality was inevitable. Now some media outlets have headlines saying, that the Ghanaian president himself wants to legalise it.
First things first, no, Ghana is not about to legalise homosexuality, which I will return to in a moment.
Ghanaian President Nana Akufo-Addo is strong rhetorically, and he shows it here in this excellent piece, where he starts talking about his upbringing in England.
Normally the discourse on homosexuality is that the West is pro-gay trying to “export” this practice to Africa, and Africa is against it because it is a western import, hence un-African. In just a few words, he dismantles the entire premise of this argument by, correctly, pointing out, that homosexuality used to be illegal in England – and by extension the West.
Homosexuality is not a particular Western thing since it used to be frown upon in in this part of the world too.
Additionally, homosexuality is not illegal in Ghana per se. Section 104(1)b speaks about unnatural carnal knowledge with consent. The focus is not on sexuality but on some sexual acts. The reason is that the Ghanaian criminal code is partly inherited from the British Common Law, and the Common Law is older than the terms homo and heterosexuality.
You can not punish a man in Ghana for being a homosexual, you have to have proofs that he had penetrative sex with another man. That is not an easy task.
Section 104(1)b has been discussed for almost a decade. Akufo-Addo’s political opponent, John Evans Atta Mills started the amendment process back in 2010 by establishing the Constitution Review Commission. The commission recommended amending sec. 104(1)b by simply removing it. But there were some human rights clashes, so the overall recommendation was to let the Supreme Court decide what should happen. That is where the process came to a halt.
Nana Akufo-Addo follows in the footprint of his predecessors from both parties.
Lastly, Akufo-Addo does not say that he will legalise anything. He says, that a population can change its opinion like it happened in England.
It is a gradual process, where he expresses his belief, that a decriminalisation or legalisation of same-sex acts is bound to happen eventually. He does not say that he will pass such laws at any time soon or even during his time in office.
Though, it is a shout out to activists, human rights lawyers and others, that they are heard and a belief that their voices are helping to shape a better Ghana, and they shall not give up. Even the popular opinion is against them today, the future belongs to the activists.
It is also a subtle message to Western countries, that they have to shut up. This is an internal discussion, Ghanaians are having with themselves, and they will decide when the time is ripe. A critic in how the British PM Cameron tried to push a British agenda upon Ghana in 2011, that resulted in an unheard backlash, where the issue of homosexuality became toxic and progress made by pro-homosexual voices was under threat.
Relevant articles on homosexuality and Africa:
– Africa, Homophobia, and Western Hypocrisy
– MA Thesis: On Homosexuality, Nationalism and Colonialism in Ghana
– Kommentar: Beskåret udviklingsbistand skader homoseksuelle (Danish)
– Quiz on Africa and homosexuality
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