A group of Muslim leaders in Ghana’s Western region is anxious about what they term the “rising frequency of homosexuals in the region” and are warning that this could lead to a decline in the population. The Muslim leaders said they had petitioned the government on the same matter last year hoping to influence the authorities to ensure that the condition is brought in control.
A group of Muslim leaders in Ghana’s Western region is anxious about what they term the “rising frequency of homosexuals in the region” and are warning that this could lead to a decline in the population. The Muslim leaders said they had petitioned the government on the same matter last year hoping to influence the authorities to ensure that the condition is brought in control.
One of the leaders of the group Sheikh Abdul Aziz told Ghana’s Joy FM radio on Wednesday that the actions of homosexuals were destroying the community. He warned of a crisis if the gays continued “challenging the way Allah created man.”
Sheikh Abdul Aziz said he was disappointed that the government failed to respond last year when his group first raised the issue. He said, “it is very critical issue that must not be evaded.”
Sheikh Abdul Aziz said the Muslim group would do its best to ensure homosexuality was brought to an end adding, “If our forefathers had practiced homosexuality, they would have killed everyone in the country. Such acts forced God to destroy the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah.”
He said “we don’t want Almighty Allah to destroy Ghana; we don’t want Almighty Allah to destroy Africa [that is why we are fighting]. We will do our best in this battle and we know that we will survive in this battle.”
The Muslim warning comes after a gay mathematics teacher of the Adisadel College in Cape Coast was arrested on Monday for sodomising one of the students.
There have been reports of a growing rate of homosexuals in the country among who sexually transmitted diseases are growing.
At the same time as the Sheikh was speaking on radio the Ghana AIDS Commission (GAC) was reported as saying that it envisaged that the risk of the increase of activities of gays had initiated a series of focused surveillance activities for HIV and sexually transmitted infections (STIs).
The surveillance is directed among most at risk populations (MARPS). In a statement issued in Accra by Dr Angela El-Adas, Director-General of the GAC in reaction to reports of gay activities, it said the MSM (Men having Sex with Men) situation in Ghana was “an issue that we could not run away from.”
Meanwhile, the focal person of HIV/AIDS in the Western region HIV/AIDS in Ghana Dr Ronald Sowah, on Monday, May 30 urged authorities to be alert in their approach towards solving the situation.
He said though homosexuality is illegal, it was time for the country to consider other options in dealing with the situation.
Explaining why HIV/AIDS was growing among homosexuals, Dr Sowah said the “inner canal (of the anus) was actually not meant for sex,“ adding, during a sexual act there are lacerations in the area which could cause bleeding and act as an entry point for sexually transmitted diseases.
While saying that the general public needed to be educated on the dangers related to homosexuality, Dr Sowah further revealed that bisexuals in Ghana could be to blame for infecting males and females with Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STDs) and this would worsen the crisis.
“No amount of laws is going to change anything. What we need to do now is to intensify education about the dangers associated with [the] practice [of homosexuality] and then hope that people will change their behaviour,” he said.
By Betesta Segale
http://www.mask.org.za/ghana-muslims-lobby-government-over-homosexual-%e2%80%9ccrisis%e2%80%9d/
This entry was posted on Thursday, June 2nd, 2011 at 11:49 am and is filed under Breaking News, Ghana. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
