newsCommonwealth Secretary General told to wake up and act over the erosion of human rights for gays in Ghana
You don’t need to make a trip to Specsavers to know what’s going on in Ghana
Fifteen years ago, British Prime Minister, David Cameron, made a threat to dock UK aid to any Commonwealth country that stuck with colonial-inherited anti-gay laws. Does anyone in the out of touch and largely irrelevant Commonwealth care to remember, asks TREVOR GRUNDY
A stinging attack on the hierarchy of the Commonwealth for remaining silent while Ghana plans draconian action against gay men and women has been made by one of Britain’s best known human rights activists, Peter Tatchell.
Asked by this website for reaction to the private members motion bill – passed by parliament in Accra – which proposes up to three years imprisonment for identifying as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender of queer and a duty to report prohibited acts to the police, Peter Tatchell said-
“Shamefully, the Commonwealth Secretary General has failed to publicly condemn the Bill.”
He said, “This Ghana Bill jails people simply for identifying as LGBT+ and for being an ally. It also imprisons people for advocating LGBT+ equality and for failing to report LGBTs to the police.
“It’s a snitcher’s charter.”
Mr Tatchell said that the law – if approved by the president – is fuelling fear, discrimination and violence.”
But so far, the Secretary General of the Commonwealth, Ghana-born Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey, has remained silent.
Human rights activist Peter Tatchell describes the draconian bill as ” a snitcher’s charter” (Picture: courtesy of Peter Tatchell)
Said Tatchell: “This cruel legislation violates Article 17 of Ghana’s Constitution and Articles 2 and 3 of the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights, which guarantee equality for all and which Ghana has signed and pledged to uphold. It also breaches the non-discrimination provision of the Commonwealth Charter. Shamefully, the Commonwealth Secretary General has failed to publicly condemn the Bill.”
Ghana became independent from British colonial rule in 1957. Under Kwame Nkrumah, it was a leading light in United Nations and Commonwealth campaigns to rid Africa of al-white rule in the 1960s , through to South Africa’s Independence and its leadership under Nelson Mandela in 1994.
Commented Tatchell, who led campaigns against the dictatorship of Robert Mugabe and his hatred of gays – “The law (in Ghana) is fuelling fear, discrimination and violence, with many LGBT+ Ghanaians already deleting social media posts and hiding their identities for fear of arrest and mob attacks.”
A BBC report on June 2, 2026 by Thomas Naadi in Accra, said that Ghana’s new Bill criminalising LGBTQ+ activities will undergo scrutiny before it is officially approved by President John Mahama. During his recent visit to London, the President said his legal council and attorney general would “sit on it because it was a private members’ motion and not a government bill.”
The Bill was passed by Parliament on May 29, 2026.
Since coming to power last year, President Mahama of Ghana has been pressurised by religious leaders to strengthen anti-gay measures which ban same sex relationships under laws dating from the days when Britain ruled such a large part of Africa.
Human Rights Watch has recommended that the Bill be abandoned. But religious leaders argue that anti-gay measures would preserve what they call traditional Ghanaian family values.
Thomas Naadi reminded his readers that several African countries have recently cracked down on LGBTQ+ rights.
Senegal’s parliament approved similar legislation last March, prescribing a maximum prison term of 10 years for sexual acts by same sex couples and criminalising the promotion of homosexuality.
Uganda introduced a death penalty for certain same-sex acts in 2023.
In 2023, there were 64 countries that have laws that criminalise homosexuality. Almost half of them are in Africa.
That year, out of the 53 countries in the Commonwealth, 29 of them had laws that criminalise homosexuality.
Peter Tatchell has been campaigning for human rights, democracy, LGBT+ freedom and global justice since 1967.
He was born in Australia but over the decades has become one of Britain’s best known human rights activists and a hero to gay men and women around the world.
His attack on the Commonwealth Secretary General will not go un-noticed.
Shirley Ayorkor Botchway (above) was a prominent politician before she was made the seventh Secretary General of the Commonwealth which is headed by King Charles 111. At the time of her appointment on April 1, 2025, she was Ghana’s Minister for Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration.
In 2011, British Prime Minister, David Cameron, threatened to withhold UK aid from any Commonwealth government that failed to reform legislation banning homosexuality.
But, he said, African attitudes towards gay men and women could not and would not change overnight.
This old Etonian who once championed the right of gays to live normal lives, added words that should ring in the ears of what’s left of Commonwealth leaders with the courage to act.
They were – “We want to see countries that receive our aid adhering to proper human rights.”
Sir Ian McKellen (on right of picture) joined campaigners in central London to protest against the continued criminalisation of LGBTQ+ people across the Commonwealth, leading a high-profile “Walk of Shame” organised by the Peter Tatchell Foundation.
The veteran actor and activist helped launch the march on Saturday, 30 May (2026) which aimed to highlight what organisers describe as decades of inaction by Commonwealth leaders on LGBTQ+ equality.
The demonstration began outside the Nigerian High Commission before moving on to other diplomatic missions, drawing attention to countries where same-sex relationships remain illegal under laws originally imposed during British colonial rule.