The Catholic Bishop of Ghana’s Konongo-Mampong Diocese, the Most Rev. Joseph Osei-Bonsu has written an Open Letter to the President of the West African country of Ghana, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo asking him to state his position on the question of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer or questioning (LGBTQ).
“I am writing to you today as a citizen of Ghana in connection with three statements that you have made as President of the Republic of Ghana concerning the issue of LGBTQI+. I find inconsistencies in them and I would be most grateful if you could clarify them for me,” the Bishop wrote in the open Letter dated April 3, 2023.
Bishop Osei-Bonsu, who was the President of the Ghana Catholic Bishops’ Conference from 2010 to 2016 recalled to Ghana’s President that “on December 6, 2017, Jane Dutton of Aljazeera granted you an interview on the subject of homosexuality. In response to the question as to why homosexuality remained a criminal offence in Ghana, you were reported to have said the following:
“I don’t believe that in Ghana, so far a sufficiently strong coalition has emerged which is having that impact on public opinion that would say change it and let’s now have a new paradigm in Ghana. I grew up in England and I grew up in a time where homosexuality was banned there, and then suddenly the activities of individuals and groups, a certain awareness, a certain development grew stronger and it forced in changing [the] law. I believe that those are the same processes that will bring about changes in our situation. At the moment I don’t feel, I don’t see that in Ghana there is that strong current of opinion that is saying this is something that we need you to deal with”.
According to the Konongo-Mampong Bishop, “Your Excellency, in my view, you did not answer the question posed by the journalist. You should have admitted that homosexuality indeed remains a criminal offence in Ghana, making reference to Section 104 of the Ghanaian Criminal Code of 1960 which criminalises consensual same-sex sexual acts between persons of the same gender. You should have used the occasion to instruct the journalist about why homosexuality is not accepted in Ghana for religious, cultural and health reasons. Instead, you chose to describe the situation in the United Kingdom while you were growing up there when homosexuality was proscribed and at this time when it has been legalized. Your answer gives the impression that it is a matter of time before “the same processes” will “bring about changes in our situation” here in Ghana. Do you have any plans, as the President of Ghana and as a staunch Anglican, to deal with “the same processes” that have indeed already brought changes in our country as far as homosexuality is concerned?”
He told the President in the open letter that “In contrast to the scenario described above, I was very happy when Your Excellency in 2021 stated your position on same-sex marriage unambiguously. Speaking on Saturday, 27 February 2021, at the induction in Asante Mampong of the Archbishop of the Internal Province of Ghana in the Church of the Province of West Africa (CPWA), Cyril Kobina Ben-Smith, you indicated, in what could be described as your strongest position yet, that you were not considering the legalisation of same-sex marriages.”
Below is the full Open Letter
