The founder and leader of the Liberal Party of Ghana, Percival Kofi Akpaloo, has claimed that the proponents of the Anti-LGBTQ+ Bill are instead, promoting the activities of the queer community through a method known as reverse psychology, a principle or practice of subtly encouraging a behavior or belief by advocating its opposite.
The politician explained that Sam Nartey George, a lead sponsor of the Promotion of Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Cultural Values Bill is using a reverse psychology tactic on Ghanaians to believe that the proponents are against the LGBTQ+ community.
Kofi Akpaloo who was speaking to Johnnie Hughes on 3FM Sunrise further alleged that the eight proponents of the anti-gay bill have accepted money to promote the LGBTQ+ community.
“They take money to come and promote something but to you, they start it from the opposite and when you look at it you say oh, these people are working for us. They are not working for you, they are rather promoting this,” he told Johnnie Hughes.
Asked by Johnnie Hughes about whether Sam George, Ntim Fordjour, and the other proponents of the anti-gay bill have taken money to make LGBTQ+ activities attractive, Kofi Akpaloo responded in the affirmative.
The politician also referred to an LGBTQ+ tolerance billboard that was erected along the Tema Motorway in June 2022 and Sam George’s reaction to it.
He stated that Sam George’s action of sharing a picture of the billboard on social media promoted the LGBTQ+ community more than it had ever been in Ghana.
“Let me tell you. When a gentleman went to Tema Motorway and then he said, to him, I didn’t see anything because I have been driving on that stretch. But he said, oh, they erected some billboard and then he took a picture and posted it on the internet and it went viral. So, who is promoting what? Are you okay? He could have brought the thing down. If you think you hate it, you could have brought the thing down.
“Maybe, you even erected it and then you went there because we didn’t know who erected it. So, you did it and you took a picture and made noise out of it. Such that you see, people didn’t even know the colors of the LGBTQ. Are you okay? People didn’t even know the colors but the mere fact that you picked the picture and you start sharing them, who is promoting what?” he quizzed.
Akpaloo in the same vein concurred with Johnnie Hughes’s analysis of the anti-gay sponsors using reverse psychology on Ghanaians saying “Exactly! Fantastic! You have given me the right word. …My brother, I don’t want to use some words but the thing is that we need to open our minds big, you know, sometimes, people play on our minds. You know, if you are there, you might think the person is fighting for you but it is the other way round.”
Background
The Promotion of Proper Sexual Human Rights and Ghanaian Family Values Bill was submitted to parliament by the Constitutional, Legal, and Parliamentary Affairs Committee on March 31, 2023.
The Bill is a Private Members’ Bill sponsored by a bipartisan group of lawmakers and has passed the second reading in Parliament.
The eight MPs who sponsored the Bill are Sam Nartey George (MP, Ningo Prampram), Emmanuel Bedzrah (MP, Ho West) Della Adjoa Sowah (MP, Kpando), John Ntim Fordjour (MP, Assin South) – the sole NPP MP sponsoring the Bill.
The remaining sponsors are Alhassan Sayibu Suhuyini (MP, Tamale North), Helen Adjoa Ntoso (MP, Karachi West), Rita Naa Odoley Sowah (MP, La Dadekotopon) and Rockson-Nelson Dafeamekpor (MP, South Dayi).
Credit: GW
