Mustapha Hamid should be ashamed of himself – Solomon Nkansah

Mustapha Abdul-Hamid, Minister for Information and Spokesperson for the Presidency

Communications Director for the opposition National Democratic Congress [NDC], Solomon Nkansah, has described as disappointing, comments by the Information Minister in defence of the President’s stance on homosexuality, in a recent interview he granted Qatar-based TV station, Al Jazeera.

“Mustapha Hamid should be ashamed of himself as a devout Muslim for giving such an answer in defence of the President,” he stated on the ‘Anopa Kasapa’ Programme.

The Information Minister, Mustapha Hamid is reported to have stated in an interview that “government’s position on same-sex relationship is not different from that of the customs and traditions of our land”, neither will his “government in any way have engagements with groups in connection with homosexuality”.

“Since law is premised on customs, what it means is that we cannot make it legal at this stage considering that the customs and traditions of the people abhor homosexuality,” Mustapha Hamid stated.

President Akufo-Addo, who spoke to Aljazeera’s Jane Dutton said, the country's culture and tradition for now will not permit the legal support of homosexuality, but was quick to add that if public opinion changes, the law may just be amended.

He alluded to his earlier stay in England, which, in the past, frowned upon homosexuality but later succumbed to pressure from LGBT lobbyists to amend their laws to accommodate same-sex relationship.

"....this is the socio-cultural issue if you like…I don’t believe that in Ghana, so far, a sufficiently strong coalition has emerged which is having that impact on public opinion that will say: ‘Change it [the law], let’s then have a new paradigm in Ghana.

"I grew up in England; I went to school as a young boy in England and I grew up at a time in England when homosexuality was banned there, it was illegal and I lived in the period when British politicians thought it was anathema to think about changing the law and suddenly the activities of individuals, of groups, a certain awareness, a certain development grew and grew and grew stronger and it forced a change in law.

"I believe those are the same processes that will bring about changes in our situation. At the moment, I don’t feel and I don’t see that in Ghana, there is that strong current of opinion that will say: ‘This is something that we need even deal with’. It’s not, so far, a matter which is on the agenda," he added.

Many have condemned the president for what they describe as a ‘not too-straight forward’ answer on Ghana’s stance on homosexuality.

Following the backlash, the Information Ministry sought to clarify the president’s comments.

But to Mr. Nkansah, the Information Minister has rather worsen the situation by attempting to indirectly tell Ghanaians not to put premium on what the president said.

“This to me is not fair and can never be possible for us to ignore comments of our president for that of the information minister…Frankly, my absolute feeling and understanding of the President’s speech is that this country would one day practice homosexuality or lesbianism should the NPP remain in power,” he stated.