Chairperson of the Public Services Commission, Dr. Janet Ampadu Fofie has charged leaders of public institutions to reinforce ethics among public service officers.

According to her, there have been many perceptions that label public officers as unethical, unprincipled, ineffective and lazy.

Making her submission in an interview on Rev. Opuni Frimpong’s ‘What is Next’ segment on Ghana Television monitored by GhanaWeb, Dr. Janet Fofie advised leaders of public institutions to remind each other of their mandate to serve the public diligently.

“You can teach ethics in class but unless people do and abide by such ethics, then I don’t think we would not make that much progress. We can get the code of ethics documents but I think the leadership of any public service organisation will have to make a calculated effort to ensure that the ethics are actually being reinforced every day in every activity that the public officer is undertaking,” she urged.

Dr. Janet continued, “All leaders and officers have to remind themselves and prompt each other to do the right thing within their mandate to act properly and ethically because if we do not do that, we will not make any progress on that public service front.”

The Chairperson of the Public Service Commission further revealed that a survey conducted among public institutions showed that many organisations had ethic codes but failed to use them as their guiding principle in public service delivery.

Former President John Agyekum Kufuor has charged the media not to give their Former platforms to fraudulent people and tricksters who make vain promises.

His comments follow the recent murder of a 10-year-old boy by two of his friends at Coca-Cola near the Great Lamptey Mills School, a suburb of Kasoa in the Central Region, all in the name of making quick money.

He indicated that the two suspects, alleged minors, who are aged 16 and 17, were victims of people who have been paying attention to fraudulent TV personalities.

“How could young people do this? What do they know? Unfortunately, [the] media […] are giving so much exposure to tricksters and fraudulent people, promising everything. When you look at them you should know that these are people who are themselves just bad and ignorant. That is not the way for our society to go,” Kufuor told Joy Prime in an interview monitored by GhanaWeb on Tuesday.

Kufuor further urged media houses to cut out content and people that could “defraud the society”.

He admonished: “We need to do that, [the] media and, of course, the authorities too should come up and tackle all these people who are now virtually hijacking the airwaves with vain promises and trickery. They should be eradicated….”

According to the Police, one of the suspects confessed that a spiritualist, whom they had discovered on television agreed to help them become instant billionaires if they would provide a human being and a sum of GH¢5,000.

The two, per the police charge sheet, admitted that they killed the 10-year-old Ishmael by hitting his neck with a club.

This was after luring him into an uncompleted building under the guise of selling him a video game at Lamptey Mills, a suburb of Kasoa in the Central Region.

This development has incensed a large segment of the Ghanaian society who are calling for an end to the appearance of spiritualists and Mallams on television who promise unreasonable get-rich-quick avenues for the unsuspecting youth.

Former President John Agyekum Kufuor has said LGBTQI+ sexuality is unacceptable and “against our culture and religion”

Speaking on Accra 100.5FM’s morning show, Ghana Yensom, on Wenesday, 3 March 2021, Mr Kufour told the show host Kwame Appiah Kubi that during his term as President of Ghana, conversations surrounding the legalization of LGBT+ came up and he rejected the idea.

“I rejected LGBT legalization when I was president because it baffled me. It still baffles me because LGBT practice is against our culture, religion and even defies nature” he said.

The leading member of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) added “I did not accept it as president then I can’t accept it now, in my old age”

Reiterating President Akkufo-Addo’s stance on the issue, the former president stressed that LGBT+ sexually must not be allowed in the country.

“Now law allows such a thing in Ghana. The president has emphatically stated that it will no be legalized under his reign, so, let’s forget about it” he further stated.

Speaking at the St. Michael and All Angels Cathedral in Asante Mampong on Saturday, 27 February 2021, during the installation of the second Archbishop of the Aglican Church of Ghana, Mr Akufo-Addo said: “For same-sex marriage to be legalized in Ghana, it will not happen in my time as President.

“I have said this before and let me, in conclusion, stress again that it will not be under the Presidency of Nana Addo that same-sex marriage will be legalized in Ghana. It will never happen in my time as President,” he emphasized.

The president made similar declaration in 2018 after he said in an Aljazeera interview that the recognition of the LGBT+ community in Ghana was “bound to happen” in Ghana, for which he was roundly criticised.

The debate sprung up again after the LGBT+ community opened an office space at Ashongman in Accra.

It was later closed down by the National Security Secretariate following widespread condemnation by the general public led by the clergy and CSOs.

The speaker of parliament, Alban Bagbin, has told the Australian High Commission to Ghana, Mr Andrew Barnes that Ghana’s culture prohibits lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and intersex (LGBTQI) activities.

Mr Bagbin said when the High Commission paid a working visit to him that the same way Ghana cannot impose certain practice on other countries, the West African country cannot accept this culture from other countries.

“The issue of the LGBTQI+ that is something we see as an abomination,” speaker said.

He added “It is something that we abhor and therefore we will continue to go according to our culture.

“We will definitely will not want to go to Europe and try and impose on them something like polygamy, we will not do that”

For his Part, Mr Barnes said “We are not trying to promote or encourage LGBTQI+ in Ghana. We do believe that sometimes culture is going to adapt to Change”

Rev. Dr. Kwabena Opuni-Frimpong has urged President Akufo-Addo to prepare an L.I. which will stop the activities and advocacy of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Intersex and Queer (LGBTQ) in the country.

The issue of LGBTQI has been a topical one in the past days following the opening of the group’s office in Accra. 

After calls to speak to the issue, President Akufo-Addo gave the strongest indication that activities of LGBTQI are not going to be legalized under his administration.

“I have said it before, and let me stress it again, that it will not be under the Presidency of Nana Addo Dankwah Akufo-Addo that same-sex marriage will be legal,” he said at the installation of the 2nd Archbishop of the Anglican Church held in Asante Mampong.

However, Rev Dr Opuni-Frimpong says enough with the rhetoric.

Speaking in a one-on-one interview on Neat FM‘s ‘Me Man Nti’ programme, he said if the President intends to leave a legacy which will protect “the sanctity of marriage and family value,” he should ensure there are laws and policies against LGBTQI

“Enough of the words; they must now translate the words into formulation of laws, policies and programmes. If Nana Addo wants to leave any legacy he should prepare an L.I to parliament. Just talking . . . we will be judged by our actions not just in our intention. It is now time for those having the mandate to work towards a future that protects the sanctity of marriage, and our family values. If they want the issues to come up so that we discuss them in the media and so on, they have not been fair to us . . . ”  he indicated.

The former General Secretary of the Christian Council of Ghana reiterated; “we’ve had enough of the talks and grammar; let’s put the conversation forward and get laws, policies to protect our society, otherwise our leaders have failed us”.

The National House of Chiefs, in a statement signed by its President, Ogyeahoho Yaw Gyebi II, Sefwi Anhwiasohene, has said it will resist strongly any attempt to succumb to pressure from external forces to legalize LGBTQ+ sexuality in Ghana, which it considers a taboo and alien to the country’s culture.

It said at an emergency meeting of the Governance, Health and Development Committee of the National House of Chiefs held on Friday, 26 February 2021, and endorsed by majority of the members of the House, “Nananom expressed concern about the current discussion by the media and a cross-section of Ghanaians, on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer and Intersex (LGBTQI)”.

“The House wants to state without equivocation that throughout history, nowhere does the Ghanaian culture subscribe to LGBTQI, which is a taboo, inhuman and alien to our society”, the statement noted.

The chiefs said: “In God’s wisdom, man and woman were created to fulfill the procreation of humans on earth to satisfy God’s will”, adding: “The symbolism for sex, marriage was between man and woman, as such, the idea of man marrying man and woman marrying woman is an abomination to our tradition and culture as Ghanaians”.

According to the traditional leader, “we will never support, accept or condone such practices”, adding: “Inasmuch as Nananom would continue to respect the human rights or opinions of individuals, Nananom will never entertain LGBTQI in our communities”.

“Nananom, therefore, appreciate the media, both foreign and local for bringing this to the attention of the Ghanaian populace, and urge the government never to succumb to any external pressure in the name of bilateral relationship”.

“Nananom will resist strongly, any attempt to impose any culture that seems to undermine the tradition of Ghanaian.

“We are, however, appealing to Ghanaians not to take the law into their own hands by way of burning, lynching, molesting and visiting mayhem on suspected gay or lesbian couples, rather should report such individuals to the law enforcement agencies for necessary action”, the statement added.

Former General Secretary of the Christian Council of Ghana, Dr Kwabena Opuni-Frimpong, has called on religious bodies and other stakeholders to rise against the acceptance of LGBQT1+.

The media, over the past weeks, has been rife with reports of the opening of an office of the group in Accra, Ghana and a fundraising event that attracted several diplomats.

Most individuals and religious entities have since kicked against the opening of the office, adding that its presence disregards the cultural values and sanity of the country.

They are, as a matter of urgency, demanding an immediate closure of the administrative office meant for the group.

Speaking in an interview on Adom FM’s morning show Dwaso Nsem Monday, Dr Opuni-Frimpong said Ghana does not believe in same-sex marriage and the President, Nana Akufo-Addo will not entertain the practice in Ghana.

“Our country frowns upon LGBTQI and so pressuring our President to accept it is wrong and I believe he will never entertain such acts. This is the time our religious leaders must come in and preach to our young ones because we can’t accept that in our country.

“My appeal to our eminent Clergy, Muslim Clerics, and venerable Traditional leaders, respectfully, is that, if these LGBTQI practices and advocacies are truly deemed an affront to the values and orientation of what we unanimously believe in as a nation-state, then this is the time to rise up and make our voices and strong position heard and entrenched more uncompromisingly than ever before,” he said.

To Dr Opuni-Frimpong, the western world cannot ask Ghana to accept LGBT activities, adding that the issue of homosexuality should be a concern for all as its repercussions could affect all Ghanaians.

President Akufo-Addo has broken his long silence over the raging subject of homosexuality currently under discussion in Ghana saying at St. Michael and All Angels Cathedral on Saturday, 27 February 2021, that homosexuality will not be legalized under his government to wide applause and a standing ovation.

Several Churches goers interviewed by MyNewsGh.com late night yesterday said today, Sunday they hope to pray for him in Church and clap and to celebrate his decisive decision. They said they are happy about the decision announced by the President and hope this puts matters to rest. Faith groups have been instrumental in opposition to the subject of homosexuality and had called on Akufo-Addo to speak.

President Akufo-Addo was speaking in the Church in commemoration of the installation of the Second Archbishop of the Anglican Church of Ghana at Asante Mampong in the Ashanti Region when he announced his position on the controversial LGBTQ matter which has been trending for days.

“I have said it before, and let me stress it again, that it will not be under the Presidency of Nana Addo Dankwah Akufo-Addo that same-sex marriage will be legal,” he said, repeating over and over again for emphasis “It will not happen! It will not happen! It will not happen!”

This is expected to put the subject matter to rest.

This comes after Akufo-Addo earlier said homosexuality is illegal in Ghana because there are not enough activists pushing for its legalization in the early days of his administration.

President Akufo-Addo held an interview on Talk to Al Jazeera hosted by Jane Dutton when he said a sufficiently strong coalition had not emerged that will eventually push for a change in the law.

Currently, under Ghanaian criminal law (Chapter 6 of the Criminal Code, 1960, as amended by The Criminal Code (Amendment) Act, 2003) same-sex sexual activity among males is illegal. It is uncertain whether same-sex sexual activity among females is illegal.

However, the President foresees a change in the law and says that just like elsewhere in the world, the activities of such individuals and groups will provoke a change in Ghana’s laws which frown on same-sex marriage.

This time around, however, the President has stated in unequivocal terms that he is against it and it will never happen, at least under his leadership.

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has broken his silence on the raging issue of same-sex relations, declaring that his administration will never legalize same-sex marriage in the country.

Speaking at an event in Asante Mampong to outdoor the second Archbishop of the Anglican Church of Ghana, President Akufo-Addo stated:

“It will not be under the presidency of Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo that same-sex marriage will be legalized in Ghana; it will never happen in my time as president.”

This statement from President Akufo-Addo will bring finality to the raging issue of same-sex relations in the country for the past two weeks.

The opening of an office for the LGBTQI+ group in Ghana and statements made by some ministerial nominees during vetting have culminated in a highly divisive and emotive discussion on the matter, with the police eventually closing down the office.

Some persons and religious groups have been calling on the President to break his silence on the matter.

“I will want to see the government come to state a clear position on that but the offices, in my view and speaking for all Muslims, must be closed immediately,”, Sheikh Aremeyaw, the spokesperson for the National Chief Imam said in an interview.

The Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) says adequate safety and quality assurance has been done in authorising the two COVID-19 vaccines to be administered in the country.

It said no safety and efficacy standards were bypassed or compromised, except that the emergency use authorisation pathway allowed for expedited review for the public good.

Assurance

Giving the assurance in an interview with the Daily Graphic in Accra yesterday, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the FDA, Mrs Delese Mimi Darko, said the two vaccines were Covishield, AstraZeneca Vaccine, manufactured by Serum Institute of India, and Sputnik-V, manufactured by Generium in Russia.

She said the FDA, listed as a World Health Organisation (WHO) Maturity Level Three Agency and a regional centre of regulatory excellence, had a stable, well-functioning and integrated regulatory system to ensure availability of quality safe and efficacious medical products, including vaccines.

Last Friday, Mrs Darko, who served on the WHO and the Council for International Organisations of Medical Sciences (CIOMS) Committee on Vaccine Safety to work with leading regulators from around the world to set standards for global vaccine safety, indicated that the FDA had authorised two vaccines to be administered in the country through the emergency use of authorisation pathway.

Checks by the Daily Graphic indicated that technical staff of the FDA had, since 2008, served as members of the WHO Pre-qualification team.

Currently, the FDA staff have been nominated to serve as assessors for COVID-19 vaccines on WHO’s Emergency Use List (EUL).

Two vaccines

“This is to assure you that the FDA has used what we call the emergency use authorisation pathway to authorise the two vaccines we have at the moment; that is, the Covishield, which was manufactured from India, and the Sputnik-V, from Russia.

“Now, the emergency use authorisation is a pathway that we use. That pathway is to ensure that a needed medical product, especially in a pandemic, is made available in a timely manner. So the only difference is that we do it quickly so it can be used,” Mrs Darko, a pharmacist with over 25 years’ experience in medicines regulation, especially clinical trials regulation, marketing authorisation and post-approval safety monitoring of medicines, said.

Mrs Darko explained that the UK AstraZeneca supplied the “active ingredients” and manufacturing techniques for the production of the vaccine to India.

She gave an assurance that due diligence had been done in the authorisation process, adding that what was being sent to Ghana was of the same quality, with safety and efficacy properties as being used in the UK and the rest of the world.

Administration of vaccines

The FDA Boss, who led efforts for Ghana to became a member of the WHO Programme for International Drug Monitoring in 2001, was of the belief that the producers of the AstraZeneca would not permit any country given the authorisation to produce the vaccine to compromise its quality, safety and efficacy.

She, however, pointed out that all the vaccines had known common reactions as part of developing immunity.

On the administration of the vaccine, Mrs Darko explained that it was important that the same vaccine used for a person in the first round should be used for the second round, adding that “currently there are no studies on switching of vaccine.”

She, therefore, said it was not recommended for a person who took the first dose of the Sputnik-V vaccine to switch over to take the AstraZeneca vaccine for a booster in the second round, and vice versa.

By Severious Kale-Dery

THE Alliance for Christian Advocacy Africa (ACAA) has urged Parliament to resist any attempt to lure them into amending the laws of the country to recognise the rights of lesbian, gays, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ+) persons in the country.

It called on all Ghanaians to join in the crusade to fight any attempt to get LGBTQ+ legitimised in the country, saying it should not be made the responsibility of just the government to fight it.

In an interview with the Daily Graphic in Accra last Monday, the President of the alliance, Reverend Dr Kwabena Opuni-Frimpong, encouraged the legislature to, as a matter of urgency, strengthen the laws that prohibit such practice, stressing that it was against the moral and cultural values of the country.

“We need our Members of Parliament (MPs) to strengthen our laws such that we cannot accommodate this kind of marriage. We also need the citizens, we need the community leaders, we need the church leaders and leaders at all levels to resist this move,” he said.

Culturally wrong

Rev. Dr Opuni-Frimpong, a former General Secretary of the Christian Council of Ghana, therefore, said the ACAA was mobilising social force to resist the pressure to allow the infiltration of LGBT+ into Ghana and commended all the various groups that had already raised their voices against such a move.

“We as Ghanaians should let the Western World know that something can be legally right but culturally wrong, and so even if elsewhere LGBT+ is a human rights issue and is legally right, in our context, it is culturally wrong,” he said.

He also called on Ghanaians to help protect the sanctity of marriage and family life values.

“In the midst of the LGBTQ+ saga, church leaders, traditional leaders, Muslim leaders and all other leaders that form the fibre of our society must pay attention to the sanctity of family life values,” he added.

Conditional support

The ordained Presbyterian minister and academician acknowledged that there were influential bodies and institutions and rich individuals that were behind the infiltration of the LGBTQ+ in various societies.

He said it was common knowledge that third world countries against the LGBTQ+ were being threatened with restriction of support from the donor community, and stressed the need for Ghana to resist this, saying the values and future of the country could not be traded.

Marriage

Rev. Dr Opuni-Frimpong said it was good, therefore, to protest the group from opening offices but that the important thing in the opinion of the ACAA was “how we will let Ghanaians give respect and attention to what marriage means to us”.

“For us, marriage is not just sexual pleasure between two men or two women, but marriage has more when it comes to the issue of child upbringing, when it comes to community building and we should educate our people, our young people in the church, in the traditional community, in the mosques and in our schools to resist any such pressures,” he said.

He said such education would help the youth to resist any effort to lure them into the same sex union, stressing that the time had come for leaders of all levels to unite against LGBTQ+ “and let the world know that our society is built on a healthy family and, therefore, we should protect the sanctity of marriage”.

He urged the media, in particular, to champion the crusade by promoting the sanctity of marriage and family life values, and urged Ghanaians to join the crusade and not to leave it to only the leaders.

The Omanhene of Asante Juaben, Nana Otuo Siriboe II, has been re-elected the Chairman of the Council of State for the second term of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.

At its maiden meeting held at the Accra International Conference Centre yesterday, Nana Otuo Siriboe was nominated by Mr Sam Okudzeto and was seconded by 10 other members, leading to his unanimous election.

Context

Nana Otuo Siriboe, who chaired the seventh Council of State, was credited with the re-engineering of the operations of the Council of State, which culminated in the passage of the Council of State Act, 2020 (Act 1037) to which the
President gave his assent on December 23, 2020.

The act among other things provides for the establishment of a secretariat and other relevant structures for the attainment of the mandate of the council.

Nana Otuo Siriboe was a member of the Council of State in the administration of President John Agyekum Kufuor from 2001 to 2009 and was unanimously elected as Chairman of the seventh council under President Akufo-Addo.

Acceptance

Speaking after his re-election, Nana Otuo Siriboe thanked his colleagues for the confidence reposed in him and gave an assurance that he would provide an avenue for consensus building and quality leadership that would help the council in executing its mandate.

Background

Nana Otuo Siriboe is an Electrical Engineer by profession and graduated from the then University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, in 1969 with a bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering.

Nana has a record of long service to the nation. He was a key member of the Constituent Assembly of 1979 and the Consultative Assembly of 1992 which drafted the 1979 and 1992 Republican Constitutions respectively.

He once chaired the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital Board, and the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) Council.

He has also served as a member of several other Boards including the Lands Commission, the Ghana Trade Fair Authority, the Prisons Service Council and Anglogold Ashanti.

In private life Nana Otuo Siriboe has been a farmer and an industrialist. In 2015 he was adjudged the best large-scale oil palm farmer in Ghana.

His agro-processing company, Juaben Oil Mills Limited, employing about four hundred people, is the largest indigenously owned oil palm processing facility in the country.

Its operations span from processing raw palm fruit bunches into crude palm oil and palm kernel oil and further refining same into bleached, deodorised cooking oil, palm stearin and palm fatty acid distillate.

The waste products of the operations of the company, viz. palm fibre, empty fruit bunches and palm shells are converted into electricity for the factory’s operations.

In 2003, Nana Otuo Siriboe’s alma mater, KNUST, awarded him an honorary doctorate degree (Honoris Causa) for outstanding leadership in traditional governance and contributions to agriculture and agro-industrial development.

Again, in 2007, the Government of Ghana conferred on him the Order of the Star of Ghana, the highest award the nation bestows on its citizens who have distinguished themselves in their respective fields of endeavour and have made profound contributions to the progress of the nation.

Most Rev. Prof. Emmanuel Asante has said the existence of LGBTQ in Ghana is not a human right issue and, therefore, no country can force Ghanaians to accept the act and legalize it.

This comes after the European Union in Ghana declared its full support and participated in the opening of the new community space of the LGBTQ in Ghana.

The EU noted that equality, tolerance, and respect for each other are its core values and therefore support civil society organizations promoting LGBTQ rights in the country.

But speaking on the Class Morning Show (CMS) on Wednesday, 24 February 2021, Rev Prof Asante who is the former Chairman of the National Peace Council noted that LGBTQ has nothing to do with human rights but a confused orientation of certain individuals that can be worked on by psychologists.

He told show host Kofi Oppong Asamoah that: “LGBT is not a human rights issue, let me make it clear that it will be wrong for anybody to tell us that this is their human right because as I’m saying for us, the ontological priority of the community over the individual is very important and, therefore, we should not go by the liberal conception of human right and ignore our moderate communalism that dictates our rights here in Ghana.

“The community has spoken and I think that the authorities of our land will understand. Going abroad with cup in hand going for aid and for them to use that as a bait to force us to accept things that are contrary to our values is unacceptable and I think it is proper for us to learn to live on our own such as cutting our coat according to our size and not allow people to use their so-called aid to force us to do things that some of their own people are fighting against.”

Rev Asante wondered why the West is attempting to force homosexualism on Africans when it is against the African culture and values.

He stated that Ghanaians will neither accept nor legalize the act.

In his words: “90 percent of Ghanaians are religious and we can say we will not accept such practices and it doesn’t mean we are being hypocritical. As I said, homosexuality and lesbianism from my perspective is as sinful as any other sin but then we don’t openly begin to defend such practices in the name of human rights.

“If I get up to say that look I’m a kleptomania, therefore, if I see you holding something because I’m kleptomania, I feel like stealing it, it is my situation, so it is my right to do those kinds of things, do we simply allow that? Yes, people may have certain orientations but we can work on people’s orientation. Psychologists have what it takes to address some of these issues and, therefore, it will be wrong and I was really offended when I read that the EU representative was talking about respecting the human rights of others. How about my rights? And I believe your freedom will end where my nose begins.

“They are the people telling us about democracy and we have the majority, 99 percent of Ghanaians saying this is something we will not accept because it is against our cultural values, so why do we push it?”