Cost-benefit analysis of LGBTQI+ Bill needed – CDD

Economic and Policy Analysts have urged the Government to conduct a comprehensive cost and benefit analysis on the Anti-Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer and Intersex (LGBTQI+) Bill.

Such analysis would help to know the economic impact of the Proper Human Sexual and Ghanaian Family Values Bill (otherwise known as the LGBTQI Bill) on the Ghanaian economy.

During a media engagement organised by Centre for Democratic Development-Ghana (CDDGhana) in Accra on Tuesday, the speakers underscored the need for a cross-sectorial study, to understand how the passage and implementation of the Bill would affect labour supply, productivity, and social inclusion.

The speakers, Dr Theophilus Acheampong, an Economist and Political Risk Analyst, and Mr Bernard Anaba, a Policy Analyst with the Integrated Social Development Centre (ISODEC), said the study would help in knowing the direct and indirect cost of the Bill on the economy.

Dr Acheampong, said: “We need an evidence based anonymous survey to address stigmatisation and the effect of exclusion, taking into account the raw knowledge being proposed and their potential participation in the labour force and overall economic development.”

Proponents of the Bill were of the view that there would only be a minimal impact on the economy.

However, Dr Acheampong, said, apart from donor supports [which for the past years have been declining following the country becoming a lower middle-income country] the potential cost of the Bill could be “huge.”

He indicated that conducting a study would make the Government understand the full impact of the Bill on the economy by measuring the size and scale of the cost involved in its implementation.

Mr Anaba, said: “In terms of the direct cost, this is going to affect individuals directly. It’s going to affect the institutions that would have to administer this law.”

The institutions, he said, included the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), the Judiciary and the Police.

He noted that Ghana, being a signatory to a number of United Nations (UN) Human Rights Convention and other international treaties on human rights, the passage of the Bill and its implementation [in its current form] could reduce support from such bodies.

He explained that that would be so because those bodies had already identified about 12 clauses in the Bill that contravened international and provisions even in the 1992 Constitution of Ghana, therefore, could be a source of conflict and tension.

Mr Anaba, said: “We know that a lot of our external and UN base partners are against the passage of this Bill. If we are going against the UN order of Human Rights, it is going to bring about diplomatic tension between the officials of Ghana and the UN officials and that will have a cost on Ghana.”

He added: “For instance, if they decide not to honour the aid or grant that they usually support with the budget, or delay such grant, because our environment of human rights is not conducive, it will affect us. For a country like Ghana, no matter how little such money is, the impact will still be significant.”

He, therefore, urged the government to consider resolving all the contentions and sources of conflict with the UN system of human rights for a better chance of support in the long-term.