Ghana’s president says he will never support legalisation of homosexuality

Ghana’s president John Atta Mills said yesteday that his government would never legalise homosexuality, despite threats of foreign aid cuts.

Homosexuality is illegal in 37 African countries, where rights groups say gay people are often the targets of violent hate campaigns.

Mr Mills said Ghana, seen as one of Africa’s most stable and successful democracies in recent years, was committed to upholding human rights as provided by the constitution. “[But] I as president of this nation, I will never initiate or support any attempts to legalise homosexuality in Ghana,” he said.

Britain has warned it will review aid to countries that persecute homosexuals. It has suspended £19 million in aid to Malawi because of concerns over its treatment of gay people. Ghana and Uganda have also been linked to the threat.

“Britain made these statements that reflect [its] societal norms and ideals but [it] does not have the right to direct other sovereign nations as to what they should do, especially where their societal norms and ideals are different from those which exist in Prime Minister Cameron’s society,” Mr Mills said.