Opinions of Tuesday, 2 March 2021

Columnist: Joel Savage

Protests against homosexuality in Ghana not a violation of human rights

File photo of the colours of the LGBTQ+ community File photo of the colours of the LGBTQ+ community

European and American leaders don’t only give disrespect to African leaders but also they view them as corrupt, and as a writer, there is no record or anything based on research that shows that an African leader, not even the great nationalist, Kwame Nkrumah, told Europeans and American leaders to do something and they accepted.

Yet, advanced country leaders have the audacity to tell Africa and African leaders, what they should do, whether it's good or bad and if there is any protest against that proposal, they say “it’s a violation of human rights.” Why are African leaders so cheap? Is that fear that has allowed them to be used like doormats?

European and American governments know the weak points of African leaders. They know that even though the continent is rich, they can't utilize the resources, therefore, they will leave all the richness behind and come for loans.

If African leaders are resourceful wise, foreign governments wouldn't have bluff with loans to force them to legalize homosexuality. When did the rejection of the legalization of homosexuality in someone’s country become a violation of human rights?

If we are to go deep into a violation of human rights, we can’t ignore issues such as torture, ill-treated, persecution, harassment, especially, women and children, war on press freedom, etc, and unlike other countries that have extreme laws against gays, Ghana doesn’t persecute homosexuals.

Since sodomy is an act not familiar with our custom, heritage, and tradition, above all, the constitution, the reason the commissioning of the LGBTQ’s center in Accra sparked criticism and protests, leading to the closure of the premises. This is far from a violation of human rights.

It seems to me that advanced countries’ leaders take African leaders for granted or probably consider them even stupid.

When HIV-Aids strike, the disease has killed black people in both Africa and the United States of America than any race. Amnesty International didn’t accuse the US government of crimes against humanity.

Instead, Amnesty International helped the US government, the World Health Organization, and the Centers for Disease Control to cover up the biological weapon medical crime, shifting the blame on innocent monkeys. The same happened to Ebola, another biological weapon and a crime against humanity, which was also blamed on bats.

Africa has no common ground to stand for someone to hear the cry and the suffering of the people, yet it has never occurred to the advanced countries to reason a little and says “why have we caused African so much pain through slavery, colonial brutality, Apartheid, the deliberate spread of diseases to control African resources, therefore, it’s time for us to stop this wickedness.”

Instead, to help African leaders if they lack the wisdom to build schools and hospitals, our help is to legalize homosexuality in Ghana.

In Europe and the United States of America, there are thousands of illegal immigrants in detentions, that represent a violation of their rights.

Let Europe and America take their sodomy, Ghana is not interested, as simple as that. We don't want it because it is not part of our culture. Foreign governments must understand it.