Parliamentarian Calls for Explanation Why Ghana Abstained in UN Vote for SOGIESC Independent Expert Mandate

By Melanie Nathan, July 11, 2025

Ghana's Parliament STOPS to Question UN Abstention on Mandate SOGIESC Expert, Parliamentarian Alleges Controversy of Kissing Couple was AI Generated

A heated exchange unfolded in Parliament on Friday, July 11, 2025, as First Deputy Minority Whip Habib Iddrisu called for Foreign Affairs Minister Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa to brief the House on Ghana’s abstention in a United Nations Human Rights Council vote on July 7, 2025, to renew the mandate of the Independent Expert on Protection Against Violence and Discrimination Based on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity (A/HRC/59/L.2) (SOGIESC).

Iddrisu’s request, raised during a session presided over by First Deputy Speaker Bernard Ahiafor, cited concerns over Ghana’s abstention and referenced viral photos of a South African queer couple allegedly kissing at the Independence monument, which sparked public uproar, as implying a good reason to take a position in the United Nations.

Iddrisu argued that the abstention in the UN, coupled with the viral images, signals a worrying trend regarding Ghana’s stance on LGBTQ+ issues. He used the example of the controversy of the couple kissing at an important public site as illustrating the grave concern of LGBT matters being out of hand, justifying the taking of a stand against LGBTQI+ people, with a "no" vote in the UN, rather than an abstention. He demanded a explanation from the Minister of Foreign Affairs. However, Ahiafor, MP for Akatsi South, questioned the need for the minister’s briefing, noting that voting options in such settings mirror parliamentary procedures vote for, against, or abstain. He urged MPs to avoid generating debate during the presentation of business statement, referencing the history of the “Human Sexual Rights and Family Values Bill” passed by the 8th Parliament but not assented to by former President Nana Akufo-Addo.

In response, Majority Chief Whip Rockson-Nelson Dafeamekpor, MP for South Dayi, dismissed the viral images of the two men kissing as “totally falsehood,” asserting they were AI-generated. “The matters that the First Deputy Minority Whip alluded to regarding two persons seen kissing at the Independence Square are totally falsehood. It was an AI-generated image posted by someone onto his social media handle,” Dafeamekpor stated on the floor. He argued that Iddrisu’s demand for the minister to explain the UN vote lacked basis, as the images were not authentic and should not influence parliamentary action.

Cape Coast South MP and Deputy Majority Leader George Kweku Ricketts-Hagan supported Dafeamekpor, lamenting that if the 2024 anti-LGBTQ+ bill had been assented to by Akufo-Addo, LGBTQ won’t have been an issue anymore in Ghana. The bill was reintroduced in the Parliament in February 2025.

Melanie Nathan POV: The Parliamentarians are politicizing the abstention of Ghana on the vote in the United Nations Human Rights Council to extend the mandate for Independent Expert on the Protection of SOGIESC, in an attempt to assert the failure of the former President to attest to it, as if a pro-LGBT policy.

 I am of the belief that by abstaining Ghana is navigating the tightrope between its extremely anti-LGBTI stand as a country, currently under scrutiny due to the international controversy surrounding the introduction into Parliament of the new Anti-LGBT legislation, versus its need for global funding, trade and loans involving countries which support LGBTI rights.

As can be seen from the above report as well as the heated exchange in the Video below, the matter of enhancing the criminalization of LGBTQI+ people with the harsh legislation that is now re-introduced into Parliament, is highly politically charged. All this serving to exacerbate the current heightened level of persecution and violence experienced by LGBTI Ghanaians, causing many to flee the country, or attempting to flee, with few viable pathways to protection, safety and freedom.