Go fight for the rights of women at witch camps, your own hometown SALL without MP; not homosexuals — Dafeamekpor to Akoto Ampaw
NDC Member of Parliament for South Dayi is asking why members of the group kicking against the anti-gay legislation presented to Parliament are not fighting for the many minority groups in the country whose rights are being trampled by government.
Hon. Rockson Nelson Dafeamekpor comment follows members of the group of academicians, lawyers, researchers, Civil Society Organisations and Human Rights Activists who petitioned Parliament to throw away the anti-LGBTQI bill.
According to Lawyer Akoto Ampaw and his group, the bill (Promotion of Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values Bill) when passed into law, would erode fundamental human rights, as enshrined in the 1992 Constitution, and send Ghana to the dark ages of lawlessness and intolerance.
The group, made up of 18 members, has already submitted a 30-page memorandum to Parliament, detailing what it described as the unconstitutionality of the bill.
The group added that its advocacy was not about whether lesbianism or gayism was right or wrong, but rather worried about the blatant violations of human rights, as contained in the bill.
The bill is now before the Constitutional and Legal Committee of Parliament after going through the first reading. The Committee says it is receiving memos from Ghanaians to enhance its decision on the bill.
But South Dayi MP, singling out the lead crusader Lawyer Akoto Ampaw, said even though he [Mr Ampaw] is aware of witch camps in some parts of the country, he has never been heard fighting for the rights of those women.
He added that the experienced lawyer hails from Santrofi, Akpafu, Likpe and Lolobi (SALL) where the people have been denied representation in Parliament.
According to him, instead of Lawyer Ampaw fighting for his people and the marginalised women at the witches camp he is fighting a lose battle.
Speaking to Kwame Nkrumah Tikese on Okay Fm Wednesday, Hon Dafeamekpor noted, “In any case, they have brought us a Memo, we will listen to them and we will do our work after that. If they are not happy with our decision, they should go to the Supreme Court. It’s as simple as that.
“If you speak of minority group in this country, the minority is supposed to be identifiable, it is not any imaginary minority. So we want to know who these minority groups for whose rights he is fighting for are.
“Akoto Ampaw says the bill we are about to pass into law is against the constitution, he should show us the people who associate with the issues they have raised. He should show us the so-called minority group in the country whose rights would be infringed by the law we are going to pass. Kwame we are talking about law, not emotions.
“Mr. Akoto Ampaw hails from SALL, but they don’t have a Member of Parliament, but I have never heard him talk about it in this country, so SALL people they don’t have rights, they don’t have freedoms,” Hon Dafeamekpor stated angrily.
