The Minister for Communication, Digital Technology and Innovation, and a leading backer of the Human Sexual Rights and Family Values Bill, Sam Nartey George, has reaffirmed that the disputed legislation continues to be a key national concern.
The Ningo-Prampram lawmaker argued that those who believe Ghana should concentrate on more urgent matters do not fully grasp the seriousness of certain happenings in society. President John Dramani Mahama reportedly mentioned at a March 30 meeting with civil society groups that while the bill matters, it does not rank among the nation’s most urgent issues.
“I explained during my recent engagement with the World Affairs Council that it is not the most important issue we face as a nation. We are still grappling with the provisions of basic needs of education, health care, jobs, food, clothing, and shelter,” he stated.
Those remarks have sparked public discussion, including from religious organisations, with detractors accusing the administration of inconsistency, claiming it previously demanded greater urgency on the bill but now seems to be changing its position.
In response, Sam George stood by the ongoing effort to advance the legislation, insisting that worries over family values and child safety remain central to the bill’s purpose. “People don’t understand what this is about. Just last week, I had to help a father whose 21-year-old son had been abducted by someone who was sodomising him as his gay lover.
“A 55-year-old Ghanaian, UK Ghanaian, kept the man’s 21-year-old son away from him. Thanks to COP Lydia Donkor, Director General of CID, who worked with our team to identify, track the number, and identify the person, and rescue the boy just last week,” he told journalists at the Ministry of Communication on Friday, April 10.
He contended that such cases highlight why the bill must not be set aside, adding that Ghana can handle multiple national challenges at once.
“To those who say we have other priorities, this is a priority for us. This is a priority for us. Any country worth its salt can deal with multiple priorities at the same time,” he stated. “We’re not saying we should stop building roads because we don’t have enough hospital beds. We’re not saying we should stop building schools because we don’t have enough pipe-borne water flowing through our taps.
“We are dealing with our roads, we are dealing with our hospitals, we are dealing with our schools, we are dealing with water, we will also deal with our family values.”
Sam George also emphasised that his electoral mandate shows strong public backing for his stance on the bill.
“As for me, as the Member of Parliament for Ningo-Prampram, the people voted for me, and that was one of the reasons why they increased my vote margin from sixty-nine percent to seventy-four percent. They said, ‘Sam, go back to Parliament and make sure this bill is passed.’ So for my people in Ningo-Prampram and me, this is a priority, along with our roads, which are getting fixed, along with our health clinics, which we are building, along with our school blocks that we are building, and the water problem that we are tackling. So it remains a priority for us.”
