Don’t allow the West to impose values on us — Speaker

The Speaker of Parliament, Professor Mike Aaron Oquaye, has asked Ghanaians to cherish their culture and not allow the West to impose their liberal values on the country.

He alleged that the West were facing many challenges today due to some liberal policies they espoused over the years, for which reason Ghanaians, and for that matter Africa, must consciously re-examine their acceptance of liberalism and take a stand on matters such as homosexuality.

According to the Speaker, there was not a single chapter or verse in the Bible or Quran that supported homosexuality, describing same sex marriage as “corruption of public morals”.

“We should be united, and once we are firm in our conviction, let us march ahead as Christians, Muslims and Traditionalists who believe in the pathway of our culture,” Prof. Oquaye added.

Prayer breakfast

Addressing the Speaker’s Prayer Breakfast in Parliament yesterday, Professor Oquaye said: “I have no doubt in my mind that Christians, Muslims and Traditionalists have a common idea about the country’s beliefs, norms and values that underscore our philosophy as a nation”.

The meeting brought together representatives of Parliament, the National Coalition for Proper Human Sexual Rights and Family Values, an advocacy group, and civil society organisations to deliberate on possible consequences of the introduction of a Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE) in the curriculum of basic schools in the country.

Prof. Aaron Mike Oquaye (right), Speaker of Parliament, delivering his address at the Speaker’s Prayer Breakfast at the Speaker’s Lounge Job 600.

Unity

The Speaker said there was the need for Ghanaians to “stand up together and show what our stand is” in order not to become susceptible to lobbyists whom he claimed were trying to influence the UN to impose their agenda on Ghana and other African nations.

“You cannot have a right as gay apart from the fact that you are also a human being; it is a deviant conduct, but of course, it does not mean they must be killed or their hands must be amputated.

“We do not do any of such things here in Ghana. We try to handle our matter. Either we treat you medically if you say you have a problem with your genes or we handle it psychologically if it is a psychological issue,” he said.

Caution

Prof. Oquaye cautioned against some Ghanaians who seek to politicise everything and urged them to stop such behaviours.

He said he was glad that the main cultural and religious backbones in Ghana did not accept same-gender sexual relations which indeed constituted a crime in Ghana.

The speaker said among others, that he had known President Akufo-Addo since 1964.

“That the grandson of a Presbyterian Cathecist, son of Presbyterian Presbyter and womens leader who is a committed Anglican and deep in his convictions on Christian and cultural values will not accept the recent liberal framework. He has since come out firmly that under his watch no abomination will be legalised nor advanced by government,” he added.

Agenda

The President of Family Watch International, a US-based not-for-profit organisation, Mrs Sharon Slater, claimed that the UN and its agencies, particularly, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), UNICEF and the World Health Organisation (WHO), had a secret agenda to introduce the CSE programme in Africa.

She accused some UN agencies of using the services of International Planned Parentage Federation (IPPF) to run programmes on the CSE that will allow toddlers and young people to “know how to use condoms, know when they can have sex, who to have sex with, access safe abortion, know their sexual rights and accept homosexuality as perfectly normal”.