Finance Ministry’s argument on anti-LGBTQ+ bill hollow – Edudzi Tamakloe
The Director of Legal Affairs for the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Godwin Edudzi Tamakloe, has expressed disappointment with the Finance Ministry’s statement on the implications of the Anti-LGBTQ+ Bill if passed into law.
The Ministry of Finance urged President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo not to assent to the anti-LGBTQ+ bill.
In a press release on Monday, March 4, the Ministry cautioned that approving the bill could result in significant financial consequences for Ghana.
According to the Finance Ministry’s statement, Ghana stands to lose a substantial amount of World Bank financing, estimating a potential loss of USD$3.8 billion over the next five to six years.
Read also: Finance Ministry Urges Akufo-Addo To Defer Assent To Anti-LGBTQ+ Bill
However, Mr Tamakloe argued that the Finance Ministry’s claim that Ghana faces a potential loss of US$3.8 billion in World Bank Financing is entirely “hollow and has no basis.”
He questioned whether the anti-LGBTQ+ bill was a condition precedent for accessing money from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
“Our engagement with the IMF is purely contractual. What we should never forget is that whatever money the IMF is giving to us is actually a loan payable with interest, so it is not as though the IMF is doing us some Father Christmas engagement by giving us those loans,” he said on JoyNews.
Mr Tamakloe cited the anti-LGBTQ+ law in Uganda, where engaging in such practice is punishable by death. He emphasised that the IMF has completed the fifth review of loan support with the Ugandan government despite their law on LGBTQ+.
“In the Ugandan law, unlike what Parliament just passed where the custodial sentence is a maximum of above three years – in the case of Uganda, it’s actually death depending on how aggravated that particular act or conduct is.
“So, when the Finance Minister makes the assertion that if the president assents to it [anti-LGBTQ+ bill], there’s a potential loss of $3.8 billion, it’s a complete red herring, it has no basis,” the NDC Director of Legal Affairs said.
He added that the World Bank had issued a statement that their relationship with Ghana regarding loan support is ongoing.
“So if you put all these things together, I’m saying that the Honourable Amin Adam, whose ministry issued that statement to the president, had no basis whatsoever and was only engaging in an alarmist act.”