HEALTH: GHANA AIDS COMMISSION ACCUSED OF PROMOTING HOMOSEXUALITY

GHANA AIDS COMMISSION ACCUSED OF PROMOTING HOMOSEXUALITY

Edward Adeti’s Report, Upper East, Ghana

 In less than a week after the Ghana AIDS Commission only seemed to have justified its public distribution of what some residents of the Upper East Region once described as a handbill designed to promote homosexuality in Ghana, the Joymakers Outreach says it is far from over.

The handbill, which had on its front side two half-way naked men with one cuddling the other and only an emphasis on protection, was among a number of free flyers that were distributed in bulk by the Commission during a durbar organised in Bolgatanga in commemoration of the World AIDS Day on Thursday December 15, 2011. Although a number of participants raised eyebrows during an open forum at the durbar, the organisers brushed the concerns aside, citing public misinterpretations and influenced views of the message.

But the President of the Joymakers Outreach, Mr. Desmond Winimi Alale, strongly has insisted that the flyer, contrary to the Commission’s claim, is altogether loudly suggestive and permissive of same-sex relationship on account of its imagery and safety note. To buttress his point further, he said about one hundred people whose opinions he had sampled on the flyer had confirmed that it only connoted endorsement and promotion of homosexuality.

Speaking to newsmen during a press conference in Bolgatanga, Mr. Alale, who expressed worry that the country’s moral and social pillars would fall apart if such information continued to spread, asked the Commission to halt the distribution at once and destroy the same stuff still in its store with an open apology. The President added that a health professional, in a private interview with him (the President), had despairingly described homosexuality as a real and undefeatable practice in Ghana and defended the production and distribution of such flyers as a necessary measure to curb HIV/AIDS spread.

“If homosexuality is illegal in Ghana , then, distribution of flyers to facilitate information to homosexuals is equally illegal. Homosexuality is not our culture and lifestyle. Circulating such flyers, which was designed with funding from the USAID, is giving homosexuals the very right that we as a nation have said we won’t give them,” he stressed.

Whilst asking appropriate authorities to penalise the Commission to serve as a deterrent to other government-based organisations, Mr. Alale commended President John Evans Atta Mills for firmly standing up to pro-gays world leaders despite the aid-cut threat and pressure to comply. He reminded Ghanaians that, besides the practice being an eyesore to God, it was also a threat to human extinction and had a number of health implications that would drain a whole national treasure to manage or treat. He entreated civil society organisations, organs of government, NGOs, political and religious bodies to join hands in preventing the legalisation of homosexuality in Ghana .

He, however, said: “We must not condemn homosexuals but condemn the act and sin of homosexuality. We must be kind to them and help them to overcome this degrading tendency. We must assure them that they can overcome it. There is no human moral failure that cannot be overcome.  There are many who were once rapists, armed robbers and homosexuals in our societies. Upon acknowledgement of those tendencies as sinful and evil, they sought help and they are now free from its addiction.”

Miss Gifty Amoshie, Public Relations Officer of the group, who said public demonstration would be the last thing members of the group would consider even if the Commission ignored their demand, said the group would rely on persuasive talks with the agencies responsible for the production and distribution of the flyers to close down the spread.

Joymakers Outreach is a non-denominational evangelistic youth group headquartered in the Upper East Region. Launched in May this year with backing from the Assemblies of God Church, the High Powered Ministries and the Presbyterian Church of Ghana among others, it has been working tirelessly to lead lost souls to Christ through music, drama and choreography. It is the first and only organised group so far to have publicly confronted the Ghana AIDS Commission since the introduction and distribution of the flyer rocked the regional capital and left a cross-section of the public in divergent views and suppressed murmurs.