Lead campaigner for the passage of the Promotion of Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values Bill 2021, Samuel Nartey George, says his advocacy has come at a huge cost to him even before the bill is passed into law or otherwise.
The Member of Parliament for Ningo Prampram is sponsoring the Private Members’ Bill with seven other MPs.
Speaking on Eko Sii Sen on Asempa FM on Wednesday, May 17, 2023, the vociferous legislator who has been re-elected to represent the opposition National Democratic Congress in the 2024 election in his constituency, claimed that he has been unfairly put on a money laundering list because of his advocacy.
According to him, the situation has made it difficult for him to engage in financial transactions whenever he travels outside the country.Even though he was given a reason for the blacklisting, the MP considers it as merely a cover-up, insisting that the blacklisting and some other experiences he’s gone through in some countries are clearly as a result of his anti-LGBTQ campaign.
“I went to do a programme in LSE [London School of Economics] for example, and I needed a student account. The University gave me a letter, but the bank refused to open an account for me. As we speak, I can’t change even one dollar anywhere in the world. They’ve put me on a money laundering list. They claim I am laundering money for evangelical conservatives in the US.
“I can’t change money anywhere, I have done some travels in the UK and Dubai. You know over there, when you want to exchange the money they’ll swipe your passport, so once they do that the countenance of the cashier changes when my name appears, then they hand the passport back to you and say we can’t change the money for you, sorry.The MP also spoke about how he’s been unfairly handled when he travels outside despite being a diplomatic passport holder since the LGBTQ advocacy started.
“Even when I travel with my diplomatic passport, you get pulled out of the line, you think that maybe they want to give you a special service because you’re carrying a diplomatic passport, they put you in a room for two hours; they just leave you sitting there and embarrass you…because you’ve gotten off a plane with Ghanaians and people see security people come and surround you and walk you into a room, search your bags and all of that just to harass you” he claimed.Sam George, who spoke painfully about the sacrifices, losses and experiences he and his colleagues have endured for pursuing the bill, said “I will write a book after, and I will chronicle everything especially when we are done. And it’s not just me. I can make reference to some because they are already published. Suhuyini [NDC MP for Tamale North] was rejected for a visa to Holland and the reason for rejection was that he lacked social ties to Ghana.
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