This was after Parliament endorsed a minimum custodial sentence of three years and a maximum of five years for individuals found to be willfully promoting, sponsoring, or supporting LGBTQ+ activities.

Additionally, those caught engaging in such activities will face a minimum sentence of six months and a maximum of three years.

But the Deputy Majority leader on the floor of Parliament said custodian sentence is not the way to go.

“It is my contention that given the state of our prisons, a custodial sentence will not lead to the rehabilitation of the offender if he is convicted; it cannot be an option” he stressed.

The Effutu legislator expressed dissatisfaction with the condition of the country’s prisons and contended that, they would not offer the necessary rehabilitation for offenders of the law.

Mr. Afenyo-Markin added that, review that punitive measures would not contribute to the rehabilitation of the individual in question.

“If indeed we are promoting Ghanaian family values, then our Ghanaian family values will not entail the consequence of those who breach them being destroyed in society” Mr. Afenyo-Markin said.

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But he said he was confident that, except for Africans, critics of his decision to allow blessings for same-sex couples would eventually understand it.

Blessings were allowed last month in a document called Fiducia Supplicans (Supplicating Trust), which has caused widespread debate in the Catholic Church, with particularly strong resistance coming from African bishops.

“Those who protest vehemently belong to small ideological groups,” Francis told Italian newspaper La Stampa. “A special case are Africans: for them homosexuality is something ‘bad’ from a cultural point of view, they don’t tolerate it”.

“But in general, I trust that gradually everyone will be reassured by the spirit of the ‘Fiducia Supplicans’ declaration by the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith: it aims to include, not divide,” the pope said.

Last week, Francis appeared to acknowledge the pushback the document received, especially in Africa, where bishops have effectively rejected it and where in some countries same-sex can lead to prison or even the death penalty.

He said that when the blessings are given, priests should “naturally take into account the context, the sensitivities, the places where one life and the most appropriate ways to do it”.

Speaking about his health, which has taken some knocks in recent years with hospitalizations, mobility problems and canceled trips or events, the 87-year-old said, “There are some aches and pains but it’s better now, I’m fine.”

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He has often been tipped as a possible contender to be Africa’s first pope, after Benedict 16.

In an interview with the BBC’s ‘Hardtalk’, Cardinal Turkson added that, in regard to homosexuality, “it’s time to begin education, to help people understand what this reality, this phenomenon is”.

Last month, Pope Francis suggested he would be open to having the Catholic Church bless same-sex couples.

His views are at odds with those of Catholic bishops in Ghana, who say homosexuality is “despicable”.

According to him, changes within the Catholic Church should not be “something to be imposed on cultures which are not yet ready to accept stuff like that”.

Several African nations have recently adopted legislation condemning homosexuality.

In July, Ghanaian MPs backed measures in a proposed bill, which has still not completed its passage through parliament, that would make identifying as LGBT punishable with a three-year prison sentence.

People who campaign for LGBT rights in Ghana could also face up to 10 years in jail. Gay sex is already against the law and carries a three-year prison sentence.

In a Hard Talk interview with the BBC, Cardinal Turkson said although he thinks that gay people or LGBTQIA+ may not be criminalised, it shouldn’t be an imposition.

“Neither should these positions be imposed on cultures which are not ready for that,” he said in the interview with Stephen Sackur.

Read the full conversation below:

Stephen Sackur: “Let’s start with something which is very current, that is the discussion in the church on key issues of sexuality and gender.”

“Now I refer the beginning of this interview to Pope Francis and the hopes that have been vested in him to show leadership. I will put it to you that on some of these key issues for example, the churches attitude to homosexuality, for example the possibility of giving blessing to gay marriages in church, the attitude to LGBTQ community generally. Pope Francis has sent a confusion, not a clear message.

Cardinal Turkson: “No, but lately about a week or so ago he came out with a small document just saying clearly what his position on all of these are, that LGBT people can be blessed, they can be admitted to church, and all of that, they can even become God parents of children and people who are being baptised and all of that. So he [Pope] himself has signalled, partly stuff that used to be left neck below, undecided and all that and come clearly with these…

Stephen Sackur: “So you see him [Pope] as now following a policy which many people regard as, within the Catholic perspective liberal, doesn’t that put you [Turkson], personally in a very difficult position. Because your own position for example on homosexuality seems quite clear, I have looked at your record over many years, you have been a consistent conservative on these issues.”

Cardinal Turkson: “Those are the expressions again, conservative, progressive, you know, my thing has been this, and I’ll refer you to an interesting episode, a situation I got into responding to an invitation to go speak in Slovenia at one point and then the Bishops were wondering whether to allow it because there was a lot of media agitation.

“My position has simply been this, that LGBT, gay people may not be criminalised because they’ve committed no crime, but neither should this position also become something to be imposed on cultures, which are not yet ready to accept stuff like that.

Stephen Sackur: “You are Ghanaian, this summer, the Ghanaian Parliament passed, it is called the Appropriate sexual rights and family values at which a tougher regime for gay people clearly criminalises homosexuality in Ghana, up to 10 years in prison for LGBT… The Ghanaian Catholic Bishops Conference said that western countries must stop in certain attempts to impose unacceptable foreign cultural values on us. Are you backing that statement and therefore defending the criminalisation of homosexuality?

Cardinal Turkson: “What I just said to you is, my position is contrary to what has just been passed, to criminalise anybody, if you are able to identify the crime, LGBT cases are not to be criminalised but neither, and this I think is basically what caused all of this in Ghana, the Ghanaian culture has known of people, with some such tendencies, and I say this because there is an expression in the local Akan language of men who act like women, and women who act like men, there is an expression for them [Kojo Besia], which means that this phenomenon is been known in the culture in the community and all of that.

“But nobody went round to make any policy out of that, now I think what caused all of these was our attempts to link some foreign donations and grants to certain positions, which needed to be imposed in the name of freedom, in the name of respect for rights and all that. I think that is what led to this thing going to Parliament.”

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Johnson Asiedu Nketia has said it was a step in the right direction, considering it was the topmost priority of parliament within the bye-election period.

The New Patriotic Party (NPP) accused the NDC of telling constituents in Assin North that they were seeking to remove NDC candidate, Jamea Gyakye Quayson to enable government to get enough numbers in Parliament to legalise homosexuality in Ghana.

The NPP claimed that given the disapproval Ghanaians have about LGBTQI, NDC sought to capitalize on it to cause disaffection for the NPP.

But Asiedu Nketia on Asempa FM, Ekosii Sen, stated the NDC members did nothing wrong in disseminating that information.

‘What wasn’t proper? What was happening in Parliament? Were they not considering the LGBTQI+ bill? The opposition has been able to state our clear stance on LGBTQI+, but the President hasn’t been able to do that so what is wrong if our people say they want the majority to pass it?” he queried.

The NDC Chairman emphasised the NPP should not be pained about such things, given the propaganda and falsehoods they publicised about former President John Mahama.

“The NPP has done worst things to us. They claimed our guinea fowls flew to Burkina Faso and never returned, among other things, so I don’t see anything wrong with this,” he said.

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He said once he remains the Speaker, Parliament will never sanction the LGBTQ+ practice in Ghana.

Mr Bagbin said though he does not vote in Parliament, he guides the House and knows that the members are 100 per cent against any culture or practice of LGBTQ.

”I can assure you, I have made it clear and just two days ago I said, I cannot live in a society where it is practised.

“We have values, we have families, we love our women and they love us. We are God-fearing people and God ordered us to take control of the world and procreate to fill the world and we will do so,” he said.

The Speaker of Parliament was responding to concerns by the Yagbon Wura on the issues of LGBTQ in the country.

The chief had earlier said the position of the people of the area on the LGBTQ was that it was an abomination and alien to their culture.

Mr Bagbin said they will not allow any man or woman to go and wed any animal in the name of marriage.

He added that it is not only unnatural but abnormal.

The Speaker assured the overlord that they are together in the fight against LGBTQ.

The former Nadowli Kaleo MP said he believes with the support of the chiefs and the people’s representatives in Parliament he will do the right thing.

The overlord in his address said the position of the community on the issue of the LGBTO+ which is pending before Parliament is that it is unacceptable for a man to marry a man or a woman to marry a woman.

He urged the leaders in Parliament to be guided on this and never import the worrying phenomenon into the country.

Yagbon Wura Bii-Kunuto Jewu Soale said he was certain that the 8th Parliament will disapprove unanimously against the practice.

Meanwhile, the chief also raised concerns over communal hunting in the Savanna Region.

He said they have resolved as a traditional council to ban communal hunting in the region to protect the wildlife and fragile ecological landscape of the area.

Yagbon Wura Bii-Kunuto Jewu Soale said parliament should intensify the existing laws or enact a law to control the act.

He also appealed to the Speaker and Ghanaians to collaborate with duty bearers to bring social vices which are on high in the country under control.

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She will, thus, apply what the law dictates when it comes to the question of LGBTQ+.

She had quoted the Bible copiously to back her religious beliefs, which she said are founded on the Christian faith, much to the admiration of her interviewers as she faced the Appointments Committee of Parliament on Friday, May 2023.

That foundation in faith gave rise to a question on her position on the controversial LGBTQ+ conundrum.

First Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Joe Osei Owusu, popped the question, demanding to know between her strong religious faith and the law, where she stood on the issue of LGBTQ+.

“As a Christian and a lawyer, having indicated to us in a short while how you’ve managed these two, what will be your professional legal position and your faith position on the matter of LGBTQ and the position of the law?” Joe Osei Owusu asked.

And Justice Torkornoo’s answer was straightforward. “I’ve made it very clear that when I walk into court, all my thoughts are soaked in the law,” she said, eliciting explanations from the chairman that she agrees to implement the law as passed by parliament.

The controversial Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values Bill 2021, is currently before Parliament seeking that the promotion, advocacy, funding, and acts of homosexuality be criminalised in the country.

It is a private member’s bill that was presented to Speaker Alban Bagbin on Tuesday, June 29, 2021.

And per Justice Torkornoo’s response during her vetting, she cannot do other than what the law says on LGBTQ+ issues.

Additionally, she assured the committee that her religious beliefs will no way interfere with the dispensation of her duties should she approved.

Justice Gertrude Torkornoo, if approved by the committee will take over as Chief Justice to succeed Justice Kwasi Anin Yeboah who retired on May 24, after reaching the mandatory retirement age of 70 for justices of the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court.

To the Ningo Prampram Legislator, the President’s indecisive posture on the issue of LGBTQI-related issues in Ghana is problematic.

“All former Presidents made their positions clear on this (LGBTQI) which has the potential to destroy our culture and values but why is President Nana Addo not being clear on his position?” Sam George queried.

Speaking to the Press in Parliament, Sam George said the President being emphatic will further encourage Ghanaians and will send a strong signal to the international community of Ghana’s position.

He recounted late former president Atta Mills made his stance clear by rejecting it and settling arguments on the debate during his era.

Hoping to see the bill passed into law, The MP was hopeful, the President will assent to it when passed by Parliament.

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LGBTQI+ bill to be laid in parliament

The Constitutional, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Committee Chairman, Kwame Anyimadu Antwi in an exclusive interview with Adom Parliamentary Correspondent, Ohene Amponsah assured that the bill would be laid soon and all was set for the bill to go through the process of passage by the House.

The bill is being sponsored by seven Members of Parliament, six from the Minority and the Lone Ranger from the Majority Caucus and MP for Assin South, Rev John Ntim Fordjour.

She has reiterated the practice is alien to the Ghanaian culture and values and must not be entertained in any terms.

Her comment comes after the President indicated that the substantial elements of the Anti-LGBTQI bill, which is currently before Parliament, have been modified.

The modification, he explained, was done following an intervention by the Attorney-General, adding that the final outcome is yet to be determined.

The President said this during a joint press briefing with US Vice President, Kamala Harris at the Jubilee House on Monday when she was asked about the bill.

Madam Harris did not directly address the Anti-gay bill in Ghana’s Parliament but restated her stance on human rights violation against minorities, adding that her position remains unchanged.

In response, President Akufo-Addo said the Anti-LGBTQI bill has not been passed yet, stating he has no doubt that Parliament will consider the sensitivity of the human rights aspect.

Speaking on Adom FM’s Dwaso Nsem, Miss Jantuah said President Akufo-Addo must demonstrate boldness just like late former President John Atta Mills.

“The President was not blunt because we are broke and need money but he should be able to state his position.”

She said Madam Harris was in no position to lecture Ghanaians on what to do “in our country.”

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“I respect Kamala Harris a lot as the first female Vice President of Jamaican and Indian descent. She shouldn’t come and disrespect us in our country. She shouldn’t have even asked that question because it contradicts our culture and values.

“I don’t think Nana Addo can go to America and propose for them to accept polygamy or would she have been born if his mother or father was part of the LGBTQI+ community?” she stated.

According to the Members of Parliament (MPs) sponsoring the anti-gay bill, the billboards are in violation of Ghana’s laws which criminalise the practice.

One of the billboards is located on the Accra-Tema Motorway.

Addressing the media at the site of one of such billboards at the Accra Mall, MPs for Ningo-Prampram, Sam George and his colleague from South Dayi, Rockson-Nelson Dafeamekpor, called for the arrest and prosecution of persons behind the billboards.

“Over the weekend, our attention was drawn to illegality that flies in the face of the Constitution of Ghana – Articles 11 and 26 which talk about Ghana’s cultural sovereignty. We noticed that a billboard promoting the activities of LGBTQ activities has been mounted along the motorway.

“As sponsors of the bill before Parliament and as Members of Parliament who represent the aspirations and will of Ghanaians, we have deemed it important to show up here today to register in the strongest way our displeasure, discomfort, and abhorrence for this unholy, unculturable and untraditional advertisement that has been put up on this road, ” Mr George stated.

He stressed that “We are by this calling on the IGP to immediately within the next 24 hours carry out the necessary security operations to ensure that this billboard, which is an affront to the 1992 constitution is taken down in conjunction with the MCE for the area”.

For his part, the Convenor for the National Coalition for Proper Human Sexual Rights and Family Values, Mr Moses Foh Amoaning disclosed activities of the LGBTQI+ members are already endemic in certain second-cycle schools and thus must be resisted with alacrity.

He warned the diplomatic community in Ghana against hoisting gay pride flags this year as happened in the past since it’s a violation of Ghana’s laws.

President of the Coalition of Muslim Organizations of Ghana, Hajj Abdel-Manan Abdel-Rahman, said a massive campaign will be launched against MPs who are deemed to be frustrating the legislation soon.

Appearing before the Constitutional and Legal Affairs Committee, Dr Akwasi Osei said, in Ghana, a minute percentage of homosexuals are born as such.

“Many people learn homosexuality as a habit and only a few are born with the homosexual tendency so the argument that they are born with it is only a few. 6.7 percent are born with it and 93 percent are not born with it so any argument that they are born with it and it is normal is false,” he argued.

The act, he said constitutes mental illness by scientific definition. This, he explained is a departure from normality and causes severe and persistent distress or pain to society and victims of homosexual conduct.

Dr. Osei, therefore, described the claims about homosexual activities as being normal are specious.

“An NGO did a study and estimated that there are about 650,000 people in Ghana with homosexual tendency and that there are 350,000 in Accra, 250,000 in Takoradi and 50,000 elsewhere. If you bring all these you get about 0.02 percent of the Ghanaian population. How can you say that 0.02 percent is a common phenomenon and therefore is normal?

There is a scientific way of determining what is normal and abnormal. It is not left to people’s whims and caprices to determine what is normal and abnormal. If you have a population and one or two out of 30 million or so, it is the frequency that determines whether you call it normal or abnormal. It is not whether you were born with it or not,” he said.

He further noted that out of the 0.02 percent of homosexuals in Ghana, 93 percent of them learned the act through peer pressure, economic reasons, curiosity, and aversion for the opposite sex as a result of rape and defilement.

Over 140 memos have been presented to the Committee so far regarding the Bill.

The Bill, if passed in its current state, will criminalise Lesbianism, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and their related activities.

A group opposing the passage of the Bill, Concerned Ghanaian Citizens said the Bill will violate human rights and promote hate against persons belonging to the LGBTQ+ communities.

Meanwhile, the Ghana Pentecostal and Charismatic Council (GPCC) has called for the swift passage of the Promotion of Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values Bill, 2021, into law.

Other groups that have appeared before the Committee included the Human Rights Coalition, Amnesty International and Advocates for Christ.

Watch video of him below:

This agreement was established during a virtual meeting held between the Archbishop of Canterbury and senior clergy of the Anglican Church of Ghana on Wednesday, November 3.

The fraternity discussed their different positions on the Promotion of Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values Bill, presently before Parliament.

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, was one of the several UK-based church leaders who expressed worry over the Bill.

Taking to Twitter on October 26, he decried the stands of the Anglican Church of Ghana, stating that “the majority of Anglicans within the global Anglican Communion are committed to upholding both the traditional teaching on marriage as laid out in the 1998 Lambeth Conference Resolution I:10 and the rights of every person, regardless of sexual orientation, before the law.”

But in a statement issued after the meeting, Archbishop Welby admitted that he has no authority over the Anglican Church of Ghana, therefore, he ensured that the conversation was one between equals.

“We are a global family of churches who are autonomous but interdependent: a holy, catholic, apostolic Church bound together by history, sacraments, liturgy, and the love of Jesus Christ for each and every person,” he added.

The Archbishop, however, assured that there would be a continued “good conversation with the Anglican Church of Ghana” ahead of any future public statements.

In August, eight parliamentarians jointly submitted a private bill to push for the criminalisation of LGBTQ+ activities in the country.

The proponents also want the promotion, advocacy, funding, and acts of homosexuality to be forbidden in the country.

Since the controversial bill was made public, opposers have argued that should the bill be passed into law, it will be in violation of the fundamental human rights of individuals who identify with the group.

The bill is currently with the Constitutional, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Committee of Parliament who is hearing the arguments of both proponents and opposers to make an informed decision on it.

The Ghana AIDS Commission has warned that Ghana’s fight against the deadly virus will suffer should Parliament pass the Promotion of Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values Bill, 2021 in its current state.

According to the Commission’s Director-General, Kyeremeh Atuahene, the Bill in its current state will force donors to withdraw critical funding for the management of the infection.

Mr Atuahene, taking his turn before Parliament’s committee holding a public hearing on the LGBTQ+ Bill, noted that HIV/AIDS programme is largely funded by donors, and their withdrawal will jeopardise the disease’s response.

“Donor funding for the HIV response covers the HIV and TB services for men who have sex with men and transgender people.

“These health services have nothing to do with the activities the Bill seeks to proscribe but may be construed to be if the Bill is passed in its current form. Donors will [therefore] withdraw their funding if they are criminalised by this Bill,” he said on Thursday.

Responding to this, the Ghana Pentecostal and Charismatic Council said the AIDS Commission is simply protecting its funding source.

Apostle Ofori Karigu, who spoke on behalf of the Council, said, “I am not surprised. You realised that they were not on neither side; that is what they espoused to the whole sitting. And I believe that they have a lot also to protect; their pulse appears to be affected.

“The Commission is just enunciating their point on grounds not to comprise their source of income.”

In August, eight parliamentarians jointly submitted a private bill to push for the criminalisation of LGBTQ+ activities in the country.

The proponents also want the promotion, advocacy, funding, and acts of homosexuality to be forbidden in the country.

Since the controversial LGBTQ+ Bill was made public, opposers have argued that should it be passed into law, it will violate the fundamental human rights of individuals who identify with the group.

The Bill is currently with the Constitutional, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Committee of Parliament.

Speaker Alban Kingsford Sumana Bagbin made the anti-LGBTQ+ Bill Parliament’s top priority when the House resumed from recess.

In his opening remarks, the former Nadowli-Kaleo Member of Parliament (MP) said he will ensure that the public knows where every MP stands on the bill that, when passed, will clamp down on LGBTQ+ and other related activities.

But reacting to this in a tweet on Thursday, Mr Otchere-Darko threw a subtle question to the Speaker he described as his “good friend”.

The Danquah Institute founder asked, “My good friend Mr Speaker must first ask himself where would he have been today if MPs didn’t have a secret ballot on January 6?”

My good friend Mr Speaker must first ask himself where would he have been today if MPs didn’t have a secret ballot on Jan 6? https://t.co/Sc4Xi79h8Q

— Gabby Otchere-Darko (@GabbyDarko) October 28, 2021

In August, eight parliamentarians jointly submitted a private bill to push for the criminalisation of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer and their related (LGBTQ+) activities in the country.

The proponents also want the promotion, advocacy, funding, and acts of homosexuality to be forbidden in the country.

Since the controversial bill was made public, opposers have argued that should it be passed into law, it will violate the fundamental human rights of individuals who identify with the group.

The bill is currently with the Parliamentary Committee that has since called on citizens to submit documents stating their positions on the bill.

One of the major collections of professionals dubbed ‘Group of 18’ kicking against its passage has reiterated their stance.

It comprises academics, lawyers, researchers, civil society organisations (CSOs) and human rights activists.

They are looking to resist any attempt to criminalise homosexuality and its related activities.

Some proponents pushing for the legislation have argued that the act is an avenue for recruiting children and subjecting them to sexual abuse.

But the group insists that it is unfair since no single data supports the assertion.

“There is, however, no basis to single out homosexuals and fan hatred and opprobrium against them, as if they were the main predators and paedophiles when the records prove otherwise,” the group said at a press conference on Thursday.

The Group of 18 wants the country to channel its energy towards the holistic protection of children from violence.

“This protection of children applies to abuse and assault from both heterosexual and homosexual persons. Neither should be tolerated under any circumstances,” they said at the Ghana International Press Centre.

Members

The group comprises lawyer Akoto Ampaw; author, scholar and former Director of the UN Economic Commission for Africa, Prof. Emerita Takyiwaa Manuh; a communications and media expert, Prof. Kwame Karikari; the Dean of the University of Ghana (Legon) School of Law, Prof. Raymond Atuguba, and the Dean of the University of Ghana School of Information and Communication Studies, Prof. Audrey Gadzekpo.

The Director of the Institute of African Studies, University of Ghana, Professor Dzodzi Tsikata; the Executive Director of the Ghana Centre for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana), Professor H. Kwasi Prempeh, and a former Executive Director of CDD-Ghana, Prof. Kofi Gyimah-Boadi, are also members of the group.

Others are Dr Rose Mensah-Kutin, Dr Yao Graham, Kwasi Adu Amankwah, Dr Kojo Asante, Kingsley Ofei-Nkansah, Akunu Dake, Tetteh Hormeku-Ajie, Dr Charles Wereko-Brobby, Dr Joseph Asunka and Nana Ama Agyemang Asante.

Below is the full statement:

Over 100 memos on the controversial bill

Parliament says over 100 memos have been received over the bill so far from citizens and stakeholders worldwide.

The draft seeks to outlaw the involvement, promotion, propagation, advocacy, support or funding for LGBTQ+ activities.

The group’s address enumerates 11 other points to buttress its argument, including stigma, protection of minority rights, extremism and assault.

The host of Adom Ahengua and the Accra Regional Overseer of the Resurrection Power and Living Bread Ministries, Bishop Yaw Owusu-Ansah, has waded into the controversial debate on homosexual activities in Ghana.

He said the practice is alien to the Ghanaian culture and values and must be rejected with the bill to criminalise the activities passed immediately.

Bishop Owusu-Ansah explained the country’s next generation is the target and will be affected by whatever the outcome of the bill will be, hence, President Nana Akufo-Addo must endeavour not to disappoint with his position on the debate.

His comments come a few days after the President emphasised the need for civil debate and tolerance as Parliament works towards a vote on the controversial anti-LGBTQI+ bill.

Speaking in an interview on Accra-based Peace FM, he said there is a need for members of the public to respect opposing views on the matter.

“What I would hope for is that the debate itself be civil, that we will recognise the need for us to be tolerant of each other even when there are opposing views.

“I think it will be a credit to Ghanaian democracy if this matter is handled in the correct manner. I can’t feel pressured,” the President said.

However, speaking on Adom FM, the man of God said though Parliament will have to pass the bill, the President has the ultimate say.

He added: “I don’t agree with the President’s position that we should leave it for Parliament but I cannot fight him but he should not disappoint the next generation.”

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In his view, what he can do for the country amid the controversial debate is to lift prayers especially for the next generation, stating he will not rest until a desirable result is achieved.

Watch the video attached for more:

“If I were in the Chamber, I would have led the crusade for the passage of the bill, because we won’t accept any foreign culture imposition,” the former MP said.

He said aside the dictates of the Bible and the Quran against the practice, tradition and culture also frowned on such “unrighteous practices.”

Mr Titus-Glover stated that any advocacy to stop the passage of the bill must be met with an even stronger force to protect the future of the country.

He, however, noted that as much as such acts were condemnable, rejecting persons engaged in it was not the way to go, but rather society must extend love to them as they needed some psychological counseling to stay upright.

He said the media had a role to play in educating the public and the law enforcement agencies in ensuring that the dictates of the constitution with regard to the illegal practice of homosexuality and its related activities were adhered to.

These persons were arrested by the Volta Regional Police Command at Godokpui, a suburb in Ho on May 20, 2021.

The suspects; 16 females and five males, were first put before the Ho Circuit Court on Friday, May 21, but were remanded into police custody by the court.

The suspects, who were said to have been at a conference, were charged with unlawful assembly.

Following their appearance in court, lawyers for the accused proceeded to the High Court to file a bail application after an earlier attempt was declined by the lower court.

The High Court, however, upheld the application Friday morning at a bail sum of GHC5,000.00 for each applicant and one surety each.

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They are expected to submit a valid identity card to the court.

The substantive case would, however, be heard by the Circuit Court on a later date.

So far, the docket on the case has been submitted to the office of the Attorney General for advice.

The state is being represented by Moses Asampoa, Senior State Attorney, and Andrews Dodzi Adugu, State Attorney.