Culture, Human rights and homosexuality in Ghana: what is the way forward?

In recent times, Ghana has come under intense pressure with issues of homosexuals to the extent that the current nomination and subsequent approval by parliament of a human rights activist, Nana Oye Lithur as minister for Gender, Equality and Social Protection has received criticisms across the country. But, is Nana Oye Lithur to be entirely blamed for standing for rights of homosexuals? Absolutely no! Ghana and Ghanaians in particular should be blamed for not only being gullible to the 'drops' from the west, but also failing to take drastic decision on the matter. The questions have always being whether homosexuality should be legalized in Ghana? Should issues of homosexuals and lesbians be treated on the basis of human rights or on the basis of culture? As Ghanaians, do we cherish our cultural values and are we ready to protect these values?

From the United Nations' perspective, Human rights are commonly understood as "inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being. They are universal and egalitarian. They include right to life, freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom of movement, right to fair trial, right to associate, among others. From the point of view of many scholars including Ishay, human rights came about as a result of Europeans attempting to form a "secularized version of Judeo-Christian ethics". Although ideas of rights and liberty have existed in some form for much of human history, they do not resemble the modern conception of human rights. According to Jack Donnelly, in the ancient world, "traditional societies typically have had elaborate systems of duties... conceptions of justice, political legitimacy, and human flourishing that sought to realize human dignity. The most commonly held view is that the concept of human rights evolved in the West, while earlier cultures had important ethical concepts and behavioural standards.

Every society has a different culture, which gives it an identity and uniqueness. Edward Tylor defined Culture as “that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, customs and other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society”. Culture again encompasses various aspects of communication, attitude, etiquette, values, norms, food, art, jewelry, clothing styles, etc. With the analysis of human rights and culture above, what will be the interplay between the two subjects, and can homosexuality be contextualized in both?

Frankly speaking, the laws of Ghana are vague on issues of gays and lesbians. On one aspect the 1992 Constitution of Ghana declared Ghana as a 'secular state', which means Ghanaians have the rights to make choices with regards to the way they want to live and associate in society. On the other side, the Constitution has made traditional customs, values and traditions as acceptable laws of the land. On the basis of these traditions and customs, homosexuality is forbidden in Ghana and Ghanaians must eschew its practice. Better still, if Ghanaians really value their cultural and religious norms and values, there is no reason for us to tolerate homosexuality (an alien practice) in our sacred land.

There is an undeniable fact that globalisation is one major cause of homosexuality in Ghana, as it involves the spread of socio-cultural practices from one country to another. However, we cannot resign to faith and allow ugly practices to thrive in our land, for if that happens then the end days are near and we all must be ready to bear the repercussions of our own silence or inactions. The way forward for us as Ghanaians is to take a bold decision as to whether we support secularization of our society (which means legalize homosexuality) or we stand for our culture by strictly prohibiting gay and lesbian practise in our land. Ghana has come a long way to be able to determine what we want and what we eschew. We cannot afford to regularly bow down to everything that is thrown to us by the Europeans. Amazingly, Ghanaians are often being described as highly religious people, yet we failed woefully in imbibing in ourselves the moral and religious values and principles. Perhaps, Ghanaians should not forget that we risk the consequences of 'Sodomy and Gomorra” in any attempt to legalise homosexuality, because a society that losses its moral and cultural values is bound to perish.

It is time for all well-meaning Ghanaians to rise to the occasion to protect and defend the integrity of our cultural values. Ghana should not bow to any foreign pressure but rather stand firm for self-decision making as postulated by Dr.Kwame Nkrumah that 'it is far better to be free to govern or misgovern ourselves, than to be governed by anybody else'. Our political leaders should take bold steps in our foreign policy decisions making on issues of homosexuality by making it known to the Western Countries that we (Ghanaians) eschew homosexuality. If it's the financial support from the west, Nkrumah advised us that 'we have the blessing of the wealth of our vast resources, the power of our talents and the potentialities of our people, let us grasp now the opportunities before us and meet the challenge of our survival'.

Now is the critical decision taking time and any delay could bring negative consequences to the country. Religious and political leaders, traditional authorities and all well-meaning Ghanaians should not rest their lips on issues that affect our country, because Martin Luther said in the end, 'not only will we have to repent for the sins of bad people; but we also will have to repent for the appalling silence of the good people'. Ghana is on the cross-road and the earlier we decide which road to take, the better for us.

Ibrahim Abu Azabre
NSP
[email protected]
0240393109
07/02/2013