President of the Ghana Catholic Bishops’ Conference, Reverend Matthew Kwasi Gyamfi, has indicated that the bill passed by Parliament to incarcerate homosexuals will not do away with homosexuality, instead, it may intensify the behaviours.
He advocates for a reconsideration of the penalties outlined in the Proper Human Sexual Rights and Family Values bill.
Reverend Gyamfi argues that imprisoning individuals with such inclinations in Ghana’s insufficient facilities in Prisons may only prop up their behaviour instead of facilitating rehabilitation.
In an interview, on Thursday, February 29, he noted the importance of implementing corrective and reformative measures within the prison system to prevent potential adverse outcomes.
“We think that in the case of this particular law and the way it is being implemented, being placed in prison as the punishment that they have chosen, it is not going to solve the problem.
“Because you see if you round up same-sex people, and you know our prisons, they are going to end up in the same room, and what is going to prevent them from going through these activities in the prison?”
“You are not going to put them there forever because they are going to be there for three months to six months and then they practice this and come out as more experts at it than when you sent them there. Then you release them back into society. So, what is going to happen?”
“That is why we were concerned about a punishment that will correct them, that will reform them. So if the government is going this way or if the parliament is going this way that is why we are suggesting that in the prison there, they should add more of the corrective and reformative measures,” he stated.
Rev. Matthew’s sentiments comes on the basis of Parliament finally passing the Anti-LGBTQ+ bill on Wednesday, February 28, which awaits the President’s approval.
