From the perspective of someone who lives openly and honestly in a country where doing so is a daily act of courage, targeted hateful statements by Ghanaian Members of Parliament are deeply troubling and frustrating. Calling on President Mahama to treat a bill that targets queer people with the same urgency as other economic policies sends a chilling message about the value placed on human lives in Ghana.
There are real and urgent problems facing the country: youth unemployment, inflation, deteriorating healthcare, under-resourced schools, corruption, loss of farmlands to illegal mining, water pollution, environmental degradation and destruction of forest cover, and the impact of climate change on our food security. These are issues that affect every Ghanaian, regardless of identity. Yet time and political energy are being spent vilifying people for not “fitting” — people who are our neighbors, coworkers, family members, and friends.
In the same light, we have noticed how divisive the government and its stakeholders are in tackling issues concerning the environment, especially plastic waste and illegal mining. While Parliament demands urgency for discriminatory legislation, the same energy is conspicuously absent when addressing illegal mining and environmental destruction. Our forests, water bodies, and farmlands, which is the foundation of our survival, receive inconsistent protection while marginalized communities face legislative attacks.
What’s most painful is the lack of empathy behind these statements. It’s one thing to disagree; it’s another to reduce people’s right to exist to a political talking point. The continued use of legislation to target gender diverse communities fuels stigma, violence, and fear in everyday life, aside being a legal rights issue. It tells an already vulnerable group that their safety and dignity are negotiable.
This is fundamentally about HUMANITY!!! Ghana has always prided itself in being hospitable, peaceful, and culturally rich. But peace cannot coexist with laws that breed hate. True leadership looks like protecting all citizens, even those whose lives or identities challenge your personal beliefs.
Marginalised communities continue to suffer from the impact of illegal mining when resources could be used to empower them and alleviate challenges they face. While some face resource allocation issues, others suffer the aftermath of relaxed rules and policies on illegal mining like the pollution of waterbodies upstream that feed these communities with the only available source of water.
Unfortunately, we fail to see how connected the lives of various marginalised and vulnerable people are connected to the vulnerable ecosystems we seek to protect. Learning to shield and protect people implies that we are conscious of their plight and the need for them to live full lives without fear or prejudice, exactly the same way we should see these ecosystems. Moreover, if anyone should mess with them in any way, the full force of the law should be used in correcting and punishing them. By doing this, we set a non-negotiable standard for human lives and the environment.
We believe we can do better. In fact, we must. The urgency our leaders should be showing is not toward pushing people further into the shadows, but toward creating a Ghana where every single one of us can live to grow and thrive positively in an environment with clean water, sustainable livelihoods and rich soil.