Out Of Box Story – Homosexuals Will Soon Be Able To Marry In Ghana: They Have Rights To Their Activities Says New CHRAJ Boss

The law is complex and no matter how it is construed, its interpretation can be stretched to give rights when the actual lawmakers may not have intended to do so.

I have laughed my ass off several times for hearing people claiming homosexuals have NO rights in Ghana based on the fact that the constitution of Ghana does not explicitly give them any. JOKERS! What most of these people have to realize is that, the law does not only give rights expressly, certain times, they are implied.

I am not very familiar with Ghanaian laws but still have enough knowledge to make this post…LOL… The argument that homsexuals have no right in Ghana has mostly been based on Chapter 6, article 104 of the Ghanian Criminal Code which prohibits “unnatural carnal knowledge”. This is defined to include consensual sexual intercourse between men.

The effect of this clause is that, it encourages discrimination and persecution against homosexuals on the basis of their identity and consensual sexual behaviour.

The above law is a criminal code which means the constitution of Ghana is supreme to it.  So what  the above law does is subjecting homosexuals to discrimination…

Article 17 of the constitution of Ghana however guarantees the right to freedom from discrimination. What this means is that, the constitution says you cannot discriminate against anyone for being homosexual (identity and sexual behaviour) whiles the criminal code says homosexualism by a stretch of the law is illegal.

These two laws are in conflict with each other and as I pointed out, the constitution is supreme  so automatically, it is the constitution that takes precedent.

Based on the above, homosexuals can decide to marry and if not given the right to do so, all they have to do is argue Article 17 by saying, they are being discriminated against or not being allowed to marry is discrimination, a breach of their constutional right..BINGO, they have a case…

Also, the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, ratified by Ghana in 1989 affirms the equality of all people and even gives homosexuals more grounds to operate freely. Article 2 guarantees the right to freedom from discrimination, article 3 guarantees equality before the law and article 26 outlines the duty of all individuals not to discriminate….

So until Article 17 is repealed or amended and probably the African Charter too, homosexuals have rights to their activities and possibly to even marry in Ghana. It seems we are stuck with homosexuals and will be seeing more of them in Ghana now until we solve the constitutional problem.

The new Boss of the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) in Ghana has also clearly mentioned that, yeap, homosexuals have rights in Ghana…

So are you ready to live with them? see them kiss on the streets and having massive weddings next door? 

Read below for more

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The newly appointed head of the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) is advocating the decriminalization of homosexuality.

The law in its current state prohibits unnatural carnal knowledge which many believe criminalizes the sexual orientation of homosexuals. But Lauretta Lamptey says homosexuals have rights under the law and does not believe their activities should be criminalized.

Speaking on Joy FM prior to her first day in office on Monday, Ms Lamptey also waded into the politics of insults that seems to be creeping into the nation’s body politic. She therefore advocates that if there are specific sanctions that offer remedies to individuals who are slighted, it will help clamp down on such negative tendencies.

Touching on the fight against corruption, Ms Lamptey urged the citizenry to make available certain evidence and information that can be used in the corrupt practices. Source: Myjoyonline