Appointments C’ttee vets ministerial nominees

Mr Andrew Egyapa Mercer, Minister-designate for Tourism, Arts and Culture

The Minister-designate for Tourism, Arts and Culture, Andrew Egyapa Mercer, has said Ghana’s anti-LGBTQI+ legislation, Promotion of Proper Human Rights and Family Values Bill, would affect the country’s domestic tourism potentials.

He said the country stood losing US$3.8 billion in the next five to six years from its development partners, over the passage of the Bill, which seeks to proscribe same sex relationships and related matters.

Mr Mercer said if President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo assents to the Bill, the tourism sector would suffer the ramifications, because tourists would shun the country as their go-to destination.

Appearing before Parliament’s Appointments Committee, in Parliament, Accra, on Tuesday, the Minister-designate, who is MP for Sekondi, said though the Bill conformed to Ghana’s cultural values, its impact on the economy could not be overemphasized.

“Our culture is our culture. And if people want to experience it, it really shouldn’t matter if we oppose a certain lifestyle. But, it all comes down to how you promote Ghana and position ourselves within the law. That is, if the President assents to the anti-LGBTQ bill.

“I know it is the most topical subject matter now, and I was having conversations with my friends about this same question. But, I have still not figured out an answer, but what I can say is that it would definitely have an impact, one way or the other,” he stated.

Mr Mercer’s comment comes after the Minister of Finance, Mohammed Amin Adam, in a financial impact assessment on the Bill, entreated the President to defer assenting to it.

In the view of the Minister-designate, in as much as the passage would lead to feet-dragging towards Ghana, same would serve as a double-edge sword, depending on beliefs of those who would want to experience the country.

He explained that persons advocating for universal acceptance of lifestyles proscribed in the Bill, may not find Ghana appealing, whereas those who value Ghana’s cultural heritage would find the country appealing.

Mr Mercer said that with this difference in preference, the ball was now in Ghana’s court to leverage on the unique tourism and cultural values it boasts.

He noted that “some people who believe that lifestyle should be allowed everywhere, may find Ghana not an attractive place. Some people who believe in our culture would find Ghana an attractive place.

“So, it all comes down to how you market Ghana and what it is that we offer the world; the listing that we have that we are encouraging people to visit our country as opposed to others.”

Parliament on Wednesday, February 28, 2024, passed the Bill, which proscribes same sex relation, resulting in mixed reactions from the public.

While individuals, parents, religious organisations and moralists welcome the Bill as victory for efforts to protect the country’s values, advocates of human rights view the Bill as infringement on the rights of individuals.

Already, a legal practitioner, Richard Dela Sky, has filed a suit at the Supreme Court seeking an order to restrain President Akufo-Addo from assenting to the Bill, and also preventing the Speaker of Parliament and the Clerk to Parliament from presenting the passed legislation to the President for his assent.

BY JULIUS YAO PETETSI