law must pursue gays and lesbians, says lawyer

By Emmanuel Adjei (Source: Ghanaian Chronicle, Accra)

October 6 2006: A Solicitor, Ft Lt. (Rtd) Adja Codjo, has called for the prosecution of gays and lesbians in the country.

Ft. Lt. Codjo, who is also the General Manager in charge of Administration at the Ghana Publishing Corporation, noted that the law must be invoked to pursue gays and lesbians in the country.

Speaking in an interview with The Chronicle, he said for the sake of deterrence, the security agencies must be resourced adequately to arrest and prosecute gays and lesbians whose existence in the country pose a great threat to the moral fiber of this nation.

"Since they have tasted the temper of the law with their failed conference, they must be made to face the full rigours of the law with no reservation," he demanded.

Barrister Codjo was emphatic of the fact that fighting gays and lesbians in the country would never be successful unless enough resources and time were committed to various plans and programmes to educate the public on gay activities.

He said media reports in recent time gave enough evidence for society to believe that there was a great deal of homosexuality and lesbian activities in Ghana and lamented that nothing had been done with such frequent media reports in our prisons, cells and single-sex schools.

He referred to what is known in our local parlance as "supi supi" and the 'Kojo besia' syndromes, which he said were the end results of the gay and lesbian culture engulfing our society today.

"Because society has allowed this culture to go on freely in our schools and prisons, we have no cause to complain when these same people practice their activities after education or after serving their jail terms," he reprimanded society in general.

The Solicitor however said this was the time for policy makers to revisit the debate on conjugal rights, since most of them go into these habits in order to satisfy their sexual desires.

He appealed to society not to discriminate against gays and lesbians; as such a move could fuel their clandestine activities in the country.

The lawyer contended that the best way forward for this country to keep gays and lesbians under control was to strengthen systems in the prisons and all single-sex schools, especially secondary schools where majority of gay and the lesbian cultures were rooted.

He expressed fear that if nothing were done quickly enough, gays and lesbians could propagate their seeds in our young students through material inducement.