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Francis Xavier Sosu, MP for Madina, used a call-and-response refrain during his speech at the final rally of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) last year. It was his way of rousing the crowd and conveying his message simultaneously.
“When I say trumu trumu [offensive local language translation for “gay”], you say away,” he set the rule for the call-and-response.
“Trumu trumu”
“Away,” the crowd chorused.
Francis Xavier Sosu, known for his human rights advocacy, had previously been criticized by members of his party (NDC) for a disapproving comment he made about the anti-LGBTQ law. They suspected he was against the passing of the law. But he denied it.
His decision to use an LGBTQ+ narrative to energise the audience at the final campaign rally on December 5, 2024, was perhaps another response to his critics. But he was not the only one who spoke about homosexuality at the crowning of the NDC’s continuous, months-long campaign tours across the country. Sam George, MP for Ningo Prampram, led the charge, too.
“A vote for Mahama is a vote to protect our culture and family values. A vote for Bawumia and Napo is a vote for homosexuality. It’s a vote for comprehensive sexuality education. No to trumu trumu [gay],” Sam George said, even though Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, the presidential candidate of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP), had denounced homosexuality on countless occasions.
In 2024, LGBTQ+ narratives dominated political discussions in the media and public spaces. The subject was one of the leading conversations going into the 2024 presidential and parliamentary elections.
Fact-check Ghana observed that the narratives around LGBTQ+ became a tool that was weaponized for disinformation during the elections. This report details how politicians were either targets or perpetrators in using homosexuality to spread false information.
A controversial law that influenced information and media discourse in an election year
Ghana’s parliament passed the controversial Human Sexual Rights and Family Values Bill, popularly referred to as the ‘anti-gay bill, on February 28, 2024. The bill received bipartisan support, pending President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo’s assent to become law.
Among other sanctions, the bill prescribed up to three years imprisonment for anyone found guilty of engaging in same-sex intercourse. It also recommended six to 10 years of imprisonment for anyone who produces, procures, or distributes material deemed to be promoting LGBTQ+ activities.
The president’s delay in signing the bill into law instigated a spiral of commentaries, public protests, and activities that would dominate media discourses in 2024.
Human rights groups and activists, both local and international, including the office of the UNHCR, criticised the passage of the bill. In contrast, other groups, mostly religious organisations and some traditional authorities, called for the president to sign it into law.
Since 2024 was an election year, narratives about the anti-gay bill became a key part of political campaign strategies and the media influence tactics that often characterize Ghana’s elections.
Days after the law was passed, the Ministry of Finance, Ghana’s Central Bank, and Ghana’s Revenue Authority cautioned the president against assenting to the law. These institutions in a document addressed to the presidency, stated that Ghana risked losing GHC 3.8 billion in World Bank funding. The potential loss of such hefty funds could further worsen Ghana’s economic woes which had made the country turn to the IMF for support– a $3 billion bailout.
In March, a legal practitioner challenged the law in Ghana’s Supreme Court, arguing it is unconstitutional. Another person filed a similar suit at the apex court. The court action restrained the President from assenting to the law.
But for many, including top political actors of the NDC, not assenting to the anti-gay law was evidence that the president and his ruling party, NPP, were against the passage of the law or in support of homosexuality. This is contrary to the fact that co-sponsors of the bill included Rev John Ntim Forjour, MP for Assin South, who belongs to the NPP.
For context, any sex other than male-female penetrative intercourse is already illegal in Ghana and could attract a three-year jail sentence according to section 104 of the 1960 criminal code. Many view same-sex activities as alien to Ghana’s culture and values. Further, a survey by Afrobarometer in 2019 reported that 93% of Ghanaians dislike homosexuality.
Therefore, any political actor whose stance had not been clearly communicated to be in support of the anti-gay law could be targeted by his opponents as a supporter of homosexuals and their activities.
Doubling down on rhetoric on LGBTQ+
Throughout the political campaign season, presidential candidates had to double down on their rhetoric against homosexuality and in support of the anti-gay law. This was either to disarm the potential of opponents weaponizing gay narratives against them or to prove their allegiance to “protecting Ghanaian family and cultural values” to the electorate.
Besides the many commentaries he had made emphasising his stance against homosexuality, John Mahama held at least four regional meetings in 2024 with the Clergy in Ghana, where he regularly reiterated his position.
In October 2024, in one such meeting with the Clergy, Mahama bemoaned that President Akufo-Addo’s delay in signing the anti-gay bill was setting a “dangerous precedent”. He also likened same-sex relations to bestiality.
“My faith does not permit same-sex marriages or relationships, nor does it endorse human-animal relations or gender changes. This is a fundamental belief that I hold, grounded in my faith. I, therefore, assure you that the promotion of LGBTQ+ activities will have no place in our schools and communities under my government,” he added.
Again, on December 4, 2024, three days before the polls, Mr Mahama, in an interview with the BBC, had to emphasise his position against homosexuality for the umpteenth time.
His opponent, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, did the same. He used almost every opportunity he had with faith-based organisations to drum home his disapproval of homosexuality.
On April 11, 2024, during the Eid al-Fitr prayers at the Kumasi Central Mosque in the Ashanti Region, Dr Bawumia reiterated his stance.
“The Holy Quran is replete with verses frowning on LGBTQ acts, including same-sex marriages. My faith is therefore very strictly against the practice of homosexuality, no “ifs” or “buts”. No shades of grey.
“Therefore, I personally cannot support that which my religion, and indeed, all the major religions in Ghana, clearly and unequivocally forbid. All the major religious traditions in Ghana (Christianity and Islam) are opposed to this practice, and I stand opposed to it now, and I will stand opposed to it as President, Insha Allah.”
When Bawumia visited Prophet Adom Kyei Duah’s Church less than a week before the election day, he pledged to ensure the anti-LGBTQ law comes to be if he becomes president.
“I will assent to the anti- LGBTQ law immediately I become president,” he said.
Despite the key political actors doubling down on rhetoric on LGBTQ+, somehow disinformation actors managed to misconstrue, manipulate, or fabricate narratives against them. These narratives alleged that they were either gay or had a motive to push an LGBTQ+ agenda.
Mahama and his so-called gay partners
John Mahama became a target for a network of handles on X who spread false information alleging that the opposition leader supported homosexuality. Others alleged that he has a gay partner and financier called Andrew Solomon, an American writer and LGBTQ+ activist. He was also linked to Lord Ray Collins, a member of the House of Lords in the UK. Lord Collings is gay.
On March 5, 2024, for instance, a group of handles in a coordinated campaign also shared the same image and text in a series of posts claiming that John Mahama and former Gender Minister, Nana Oye Bampoe Addo (formerly Nana Oye Lithur), are hoping to promote gay rights in Ghana.
The claims that John Maham and Nana Oye are ‘colluding’ to promote homosexuality in Ghana are not new. They have been circulating on social and traditional media platforms for years. The claim is sometimes varied with the assertion that Andrew Solomon was lobbying for Nana Oye to be made gender minister again to push the gay agenda.
In 2023, Andrew Solomon responded to the claims in a New York Times article titled “In Bed with John Mahama.” Solomon rejected claims that Mahama is his partner. He also denied funding the opposition leader or advocating for Nana Oye to be made a minister. In 2024, he also debunked claims that he had criticised John Mahama for his stance on LGBTQ+ issues.
The 55-year-old male vice presidential candidate who “cannot be with a woman”
In November 2023, Ghana’s Energy Minister, Mathew Opoku Prempeh, alias Napo, tied the knot at a private event. Napo was 55 years old when he settled in 2023.
On July 9, 2024, Napo was announced as the NPP’s vice presidential candidate. A new disinformation campaign labelling him as a gay man emerged immediately.
Beginning on pro-NDC radio stations, including Accra FM and Power FM, the narrative that Napo was gay and that he only married to satisfy social expectations spread across the media. For instance, Oheneba Bennie, a show host on Accra-based Power FM, said on his show on August 21, 2024, that “we cannot sit and watch for a man who cannot be with a woman to become vice president.”
Other opposition political actors, including Hopeson Adorye and former MP for Buem, Daniel Kwasi Ashiamah, called Napo gay without any evidence.
On social media, especially on X, TikTok, and Facebook, a plethora of handles consistently peddled unverified claims that Napo was gay and wanted to become Vice President to champion the LGBTQ+ agenda.
Napo, Okudzeto Ablakwa and the LGBTQ+ curriculum for schools
Mathew Opoku Prempeh (Napo) was as much a target as a perpetrator in weaponising LGBTQ+ narratives for disinformation.
At a political rally in Bantama, Kumasi, on October 5, 2024, Napo alleged that a former deputy education minister under the erstwhile NDC government, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, introduced a curriculum that promoted homosexuality in schools.
“They rallied pastors and imams on tours across towns, telling teachers to teach schoolchildren how a man kisses a man and how a woman can sleep with another woman. All these things have happened in Ghana,” he asserted amidst cheers from the audience.
Napo added that Mahama’s gay partner, Andrew Solomon, funded the former president’s book project.
The Comprehensive Sexuality and Reproductive Health Education programme, often shortened to Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE), was what the NPP running mate was referring to. The CSE curriculum was introduced by the Ghana government together with UNESCO and the United Nations Population Fund (UNPFA). The programme was aimed at equipping “young people with the knowledge, skills, attitudes, and values necessary for making informed decisions about their sexuality, relationships, and reproductive health.”
However, when the conversation emerged, many education stakeholders, including faith-based organisations and pressure groups, kicked against it. They argued that the programme was a threat to Ghanaian cultural norms as its course guidelines resonate with LGBTQ+ activism.
Fact-Check Ghana’s checks showed that the conversation about introducing the National CSE into basic and secondary school curricula commenced in 2016 when the NDC was in power. However, when the government eventually decided to roll it out in 2019, Napo was the Minister of Education. He did not oppose the CSE but supported its integration into the curricula of schools.
For instance, in February 2019, during a dialogue organised by UNESCO that brought together education ministers across Africa on the implementation of the CSE, Napo said:
“We in Ghana have a guideline that I have shared with you. We see it is imperative if this nation should develop that sexuality education should be part of the curricula that we will launch this year in September, from kindergarten to senior high school.”
His support for the CSE in 2019, when he was education minister, and his claim in October 2024 before the elections, underlined his apparent double-sidedness on the CSE curriculum issue. This further instigated disinformation campaigns against him on X, led by some handles known to support the NDC, including @AnnanPerry.
Further checks by Fact-Check Ghana reveal that months before Napo would accuse the NDC of pushing gay activism through the CSE, a group of handles had already commenced coordinated campaigns aimed at amplifying Napo’s role in the government’s attempt to integrate the CSE into the curricula of schools.
Between July 5 and July 7, 2024, many handles shared the same post on the issue on X:
“That gay stuff [sic] in basic schools was the height of immorality, dishonesty and uncultural thinking of NAPO. #BawuliarArrogantNapo #RestInPeaceJohnKuma #ArrogantLiar”
The NDC MP nominated for LGBTQ awards in the US and the gay tags
Further emphasising how some politicians were either perpetrators or targets of the homosexuality disinformation, Francis Xavier Sosu, MP for Madina, who chanted the offensive gay word at the last NDC rally, was at some point the object of gay-related false information.
In June 2024, a social media card emerged on TikTok suggesting that Xavier Sosu had been nominated to pick up an award for defending gays in Ghana. The card had been cloned after the EIB network’s news social media card for credibility.
Fact-Check Ghana debunked the claim. Our verification revealed that the MP had indeed won an international award for his human rights advocacy and was also nominated for the US Presidential Voluntary Service Award. But the recognition was not about LGBTQ+ issues.
In July 2024, Francis Xavier Sosu had cause to defend himself in an article he published on major news portals after he was tagged as being against the anti-gay bill. This follows comments he made to the media that if Akufo-Addo assents to the law, “not only will it be a recipe for chaos; it could derail the country in several ways as well.”
He received a backlash from his own party’s supporters for the comments.
Many believe his chant of the offensive gay word at the final NDC rally was to further prove to the public his position against homosexuality.
Numerous false and misleading claims hinged on LGBTQ+ narratives
Aside from the personality targets of the LGBTQ+ disinformation campaigns, there were many other false and misleading claims made by different personalities throughout the election campaign period. Fact-Check Ghana spotted and debunked as many as it could verify.
For instance, Sam George, MP for Ningo Prampram, in an interview on TV3, said 22 States in the US had criminalised LGBTQ+ issues. Fact-check Ghana found no evidence to support the claim.
Also, Alhassan Bashir Fuseini, MP for Sagnarigu Constituency, said the European Court of Human Rights had said LGBTQ+ was a sexual preference and not a human rights issue. Again, there was no evidence to support the claim. Rather, Fact-check Ghana’s verification showed that the Court’s rulings on cases bordering on sexuality rather affirm their position to protect the human rights of the LGBTQ+ community.
Human rights impact of weaponising LGBTQ+ narratives for disinformation
Prof Audrey Gadzekpo, media and communications consultant and human rights activist, believes the use of gay-related disinformation for political gains endangers the lives of persons who are LGBTQ+ or are believed to be.
She averred that such disinformation narratives create an erroneous impression that LGBTQ people are the root of society’s moral problems and, therefore, need to be vilified. It disrupts the social cohesion of the Ghanaian society, where we used to co-exist with gay people in our communities, she said.
In the end, we did see that moments when the politicians were really on their anti-LGBTQ rhetoric, there were actual attacks on LGBTQ people and perceived LGBTQ people. And that’s the danger,” Prof Gadzekpo stressed.
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On December 18, 2024, Ghana’s Supreme Court dismissed the cases challenging the legality of the anti-LGBTQ law. President Akufo-Addo, however, declined to assent to it. The law, therefore, expired with the previous parliament after a new one was sworn in on January 7, 2025.
A new bill has been reintroduced in the new parliament by some MPs. However, President Mahama prefers the bill to be state-sponsored to ensure broader consultation and support
