Anti-LGBTQ+ Bill: Are We Going Back to Slavery? . . . Americans Are Very Annoying! - Pratt Scolds US

Managing Editor of the Insight newspaper, Kwesi Pratt Jnr. has shot back at the United States for threatening to pull back her support to Ghana should the President assent to the anti-LGBTQ+ bill.

Ghana's Parliament approved the anti-LGBTQ+ bill on Tuesday, February 27, to serve as a check on the homosexual society.

The bill makes the promotion, advocacy and all acts of homosexuality criminal and punishable by law; offenders will face up to 5 years in prison.

But the United States says there will be dire consequences for Ghana should the bill become law.

The United States on Wednesday said it was "deeply troubled" and urged a review of the "constitutionality of the bill".

"The bill seeks to criminalize any person who simply identifies as LGBTQI+, as well as any friend, family, or member of the community who does not report them." 

"The bill would also undermine Ghana's valuable public health, media and civic spaces, and economy", the U.S. State Department said in a statement.
 
It added; "The United States echoes the call by those Ghanaians who have urged a review of the constitutionality of the bill to protect the rights of all individuals in Ghana."
 
US ambassador to Ghana, Virginia Evelyn Palmer also says the bill undermines human rights.

“I am saddened because some of the smartest, most creative, most decent people I know are LGBT. The bill Parliament passed takes away not only their basic human rights but those of all Ghanaians because it undermines their constitutional rights to freedom of speech, freedom of assembly and freedom of the press. It will be bad for public order and public health. If enacted, it will also hurt Ghana’s international reputation and Ghana’s economy,” she wrote on the embassy’s X (formerly Twitter) page.

Kwesi Pratt turned his anger on the United States saying "look who is teaching us human rights" and disclosed some inhumane laws by the American government.

"The Americans are very annoying...We have allowed it. They just don't respect us," he fumed.

Citing the US laws that frown on polygamy and the racism in the nation, Mr. Pratt expressed disgust over the posture taken by the United States on the anti-LGBTQ+ bill.

"Whether LGBT is good or bad, let us decide that on our own, not under pressure," he further replied the US.

Kwesi Pratt missed the era of the late Kwame Nkrumah, Ghana's first President who secured independence for the country.

"Are we going back to slavery or what?...where is Kwame Nkrumah? Kwame Nkrumah didn't die at the correct time at all. Could you say this in the face of Kwame Nkrumah?"

Mr. Pratt shared his disappointments during "Kokrokoo" panel discussion show on Peace FM.