Lawyer Adomako Baafi, a former New Patriotic Party (NPP) Communications Director, has condemned Minister of Communication and Digitalization Ursula Owusu Ekufful’s remarks about sex toys.
Men and women, according to Baafi, are alive and, based on natural and Biblical teachings, are supposed to participate in personal relationships rather than relying on items such as sticks and sex toys.
He voiced alarm about the probable effects of such actions in an interview on Okay FM on December 19, 2023, highlighting the impact on individuals’ health and the subsequent demand on government resources.
“She (Ursula) is my sister, and she is in my party, so in communication, you highlight what is positive and deduce what is negative. But it is not the best. Are men dead? Are women also dead?
“Even though everybody is facing issues in his or her marriage but does that justify us using sticks as sex objects? Jesus Christ!
“There are certain things we shouldn’t mention as human beings created by God in His image and likeness. So, it is not good. It has a lot of consequences; the government will use the money to purchase drugs for its consequences, and that money can be used to do other projects,” Baafi stated.
Ursula Owusu-Ekuful recently advised parliament to proceed with caution as it analyzes the Promotion of Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values bill (anti-LGBTQ+ bill).
On the floor of parliament on Tuesday, December 12, 2023, during the consideration of modifications to the law, Owusu-Ekuful, MP for Ablekuma West, expressed worry over a proposed amendment to Clause 3 of the bill, which advocates criminalizing sex toys.
She stated that sex toys cannot be criminalized because they are also used to enhance sexual encounters by heterosexual people.
“I think we raised this when the committee was considering it (the bill) that the proposed amendment in 3(c) may create unintended consequences because sexual intercourse between a man and an inanimate object or a woman and an inanimate object would necessarily include sexual intercourse with all manner of aids that couple use to enhance the sexual experience.
“And I’m not sure if that’s what the intention of this bill is. It would necessarily include sex toys and other aids that couples, heterosexual couples, also use to enhance the sexual experience,” she said.
The Minister continued, “So if that is what the house intends then we have to be clear in our minds that we may be criminalizing activities which may not necessarily be limited to only those LGBTQI community that the target of this bill is, but it may also be targeting straight couples who use sex enhancement tools to enhance the sexual experience”.
The MP then proposed that the aforementioned change be removed from the bill.
“So, we need to be mindful of the unintended consequences of 3(c) could be. And I’ll propose that 3(c) be deleted from this amendment.”