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Majority Leader of Parliament, Alexander Kwamena Afenyo-Markin, has stated that many Members of Parliament are in support of the position that LGBTQ offenders should not be imprisoned but given communal service.

According to him, most of the MPs have refused to publicly support the communal service proposal because of the fear of being attacked and likely loss of seat.

“I can state here on authority that many Members of Parliament are against custodial sentencing of people who are offenders of LGBTQ but they are afraid of losing elections. They are afraid of what the people out there will say about them,” he said.

Hon. Afenyo-Markin made these remarks when he appeared on Kwami Sefa Kayi’s Kokrokoo morning show on Peace 104.3 FM on Monday, 18th March, 2024.

Ghana’s Parliament recently passed the Anti-LGBTQ Bill amidst concerns over whether offenders should be incarcerated or made to do communal services.

The Majority Leader who made a strong case against custodial sentencing due to its failure to reform the offenders and the possibility of them infecting other inmates with their activities said on Kokrokoo that he is against people of same-sex getting married or being together but against their imprisonment.

MP for Madina, Francis-Xavier Kojo Sosu, in a recent interview with TV3 and published on 3NEWS, also said that offenders of LGBTQ should not be imprisoned but given communal services as their punishment.

Sosu, in the interview emphasized that sentencing those found guilty of homosexuality and lesbianism would not bring reform. He advised vehemently against the provision that lets offenders to be imprisoned.

The Anti-LGBTQ Bill is being challenged in court by a Ghanaian citizen for certain provisions it contains, stalling same from being assented by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.