One of the proponents of the anti-LGBTQI+ bill, Samuel Nartey George, has revealed that some US groups tried to influence him to stop the campaign.
According to him, those groups offered him money in a bid to persuade him.
However, he said his involvement in the push for anti-LGBTQ legislation in the country is not influenced by money but by his conviction that LGBTQI+ activities are unacceptable.
He insisted such acts are against the cultural values of the country.
The Ningo-Prampram MP made the revelation in an interview with Accra-based Citi TV on Sunday, May 15.
He said the monetary considerations that were offered to him could have taken care of him in his entire life.
But Mr. George said the offer re-energised him to remain resolute in his quest.
“On this LGBTQ thing, if it was about making quick money, I could have been sorted out for life. Offers were made. I can show you messages from groups in San Francisco inviting me and saying let’s have a conversation that I should drop the bill. If that was what it was about for me, I could have gotten it sorted out, but you must have principles,” he said.
The lawmaker’s involvement with the sponsorship of the anti-LGBTQ legislation in Ghana has come with several ramifications.
This includes being blacklisted from making currency exchanges outside Ghana, which stems from allegations of money laundering levelled against him by unhappy persons about his campaign.
“The price I have paid is enormous. I know I may have been put on some international watch lists. You travel, and you get to an international airport, and all kinds of funny questions are asked of you.
“They say I do money laundering and I cannot even change $10 anywhere in the world because of accusations that I’m being funded by some ghost group in the US. I am not being funded. I fund my things from my own pocket,” he added.
The outspoken MP is part of eight Members of Parliament that have jointly sponsored a private bill to push for the criminalization of LGBTQI+ activities in the country.
The bill, which they term a ‘Bill on the Promotion of Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values’, was presented to Speaker, Alban Bagbin on Tuesday, June 29, 2021.
It is currently before the Constitutional and Legal Affairs Committee of Parliament for consideration and subsequent report to plenary for an onward decision on same.
The other members of parliament that joined in presenting the bill include, Emmanuel Bedzrah (MP, Ho West) Della Adjoa Sowah (MP, Kpando), John Ntim Fordjour (MP, Assin South), Alhassan Sayibu Suhuyini (MP, Tamale North), Helen Adjoa Ntoso (MP, Krachi West), Rita Naa Odoley Sowah (MP, La Dadekotopon) and Rockson Nelson Dafeamekpor (MP, South Dayi).
