According to the church, a minimum sentence for such crime should be three (3) years.
ADVERTISEMENT
Give a minimum 3-year jail term to persons engaged in LGBTQI activities – Presbyterian Church
The Presbyterian Church of Ghana has said that the current punishment for persons engaged in LGBTQI activities is not deterrent enough.
LGBTQI flag
Recommended articles
This call was made when the church, led by its representative, presented its memorandum at the public hearing on the private member's bill known as the Promotion of Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values by the Constitutional, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Committee of Parliament.
Presenting the memorandum before the committee, the Director of Ecumenical and Social Relations of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana, Rev. Nii Amarh Ashitey, said the punishment prescribed in the Anti-LGBTQ + Bill currently before parliament must be deterrent enough.
He said: “As Christians, we believe in mercy and forgiveness but we equally believe that punishments are meant as deterrents not only for the offender but also for people who harbour similar intent”.
ADVERTISEMENT
“This bill is essentially to control social order and norms that the punishment prescribed must be deterrent enough…”
He continued: “It is the considered opinion of PCG that any offence committed under the bill should not attract an equivalent jail term of less than three years”.
An LGBTQ flag.
774d681d-b2f9-4346-8aa4-5edcf5c0b166
“We find that the needs of the law on Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values have emerged from the inadequacy of the Criminal Offences Act 1960 (Act 29). This law that hopes to come out after this bill has been passed, is needed to deter unacceptable behaviours that are injurious to the common good of society.”
According to the church, “the ordinary Ghanaian believes a human being is either a man or a woman and that men marry women and vice-versa, there’s no alternative to this arrangement…”
ADVERTISEMENT
The Promotion of Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values Bill 2021 will see culprits face a jail term of up to ten years depending on the crime, if passed in its current state.
Individuals of the same sex who engage in sexual intercourse are “liable on summary conviction to a fine of not less than seven hundred and fifty penalty units and not more than five thousand penalty units, or to a term of imprisonment of not less than three years and not more than five years or both.”
JOIN OUR PULSE COMMUNITY!
ADVERTISEMENT
Eyewitness? Submit your stories now via social or:
Email: eyewitness@pulse.com.gh
Recommended articles
Parents will soon beg for their children to enrol in public basic schools -Dr Osei- Adutwum
Government rebrands public basic schools, set to change brown and yellow uniforms
I won’t apologize for ECG Manager's arrest – Ashanti Regional Minister
Trailblazing Prof. Jane Agyemang: The political powerhouse shaking up the NDC!
John Mahama can’t succeed me as President because I defeated him twice – Akufo-Addo
President Biden signs law to potentially ban TikTok if not sold
I won’t be a driver’s mate to John Mahama – Prof. Naana Opoku-Agyeman
‘Dumsor’ challenges will end in a few days – ECG Board Chairman assures Ghanaians
