Expunge CSE from budget statement – Parliament urged

The Ghana Pentecostal and Charismatic Council (GPCC) has urged Parliament to, with immediate effect, begin the relevant parliamentary processes to review aspects of the 2019 budget statement that committed state resources to fund the Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE).

It further called on Parliament to ensure that the CSE was withdrawn from the budget statement and that no funds were expended on the policy.

“We reject absolutely the inclusion of the Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE) in any form and in any name in our school curriculum now and in the future as we see the policy as a long-term subtle agenda to target our young population with a liberal mindset to accept and tolerate lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender as a normal societal behaviour in the very near future,” the President of the GPCC, Prof. Paul Frimpong-Manso, spoke on behalf of the council at a press conferenceon Thursday, September 3.

Official position

The press conference was to state the official position of the GPCC on the raging debate and controversy on the CSE in a response to an earlier one held by the Ministry of Education following a general reaction over rumours that the Ghana Education Service was allegedly set to introduce the CSE from KG to Primary Six in public schools.

Prof. Frimpong-Manso said while acknowledging government’s latest statement and assurance of non-implementation of the policy in the next academic year, “we wish to reiterate that anything short of an assurance of complete withdrawal of the policy and a promise never to introduce it in the very near future, will not be accepted.”

External influence

“We shall not, as churches, parents and communities, shirk our primary moral upbringing responsibilities to our children by allowing government and other external interest groups to dilute our long-tested traditional values on sexuality and allow the introduction of any demonic policies through CSE.

“We shall not allow any external agency or internal government entity to attempt to ‘smuggle’ the CSE into the mainstream school curriculum or any other projects or programmes often with funding from these ‘so-called’ external interest groups,” he stressed and called on all interested groups and like-minded stakeholders of the educational system to remain vigilant and expose any attempt to pass “this obnoxious policy through the backdoor.”

Home-grown

He, therefore, called for a drawing up of a home-grown solution to the problems of sexuality within the context of “our tried and tested religious and cultural moral values without undue interference from any external donor agency.”

“As a council, we are committed to supporting government in whatever way possible to realise the ultimate objective of a home-grown and Ghanaian-owned policy on sexuality devoid of all subtle external influence,” Prof. Manso gave the assurance.

He called for a genuine and transparent government-stakeholder dialogue at all levels that would facilitate the drawing up of such a home-grown policy.

“We strongly urge the government and the main political parties to resist the temptation of introducing the usual partisanship into this sensitive debate as we are already picking signals of this unhealthy phenomenon in the current discourse,” Prof. Manso advised.

Safeguarding the future

“The GPCC is very resolute in its stance on the CSE and is standing firmly with all other stakeholders on this matter with the hope that government would further assure us beyond suspension of the policy to take concrete steps for genuine dialogue with all stakeholders to safeguard the future of our children from a perverse generation of vampires scheming to destroy us,” he stated.

Prof. Frimpong-Manso advised the government to listen to the voices of the people, “because the power of the people is greater than the people in power.”