Anti-LGBTQ+ bill: We’ll reciprocate if visas are used as weapon – Ablakwa cautions Ayorkor Botchwey

• It has emerged that some MPs are being threatened with visa bans

• Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa has described the action as primitive and a grave assault on the sovereignty

• He says Ghana will reciprocate

Member of Parliament for North Tongu, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, has advised Foreign Affairs Minister, Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey, to caution foreign missions using visas as a weapon against Ghanaian lawmakers sponsoring the anti-LGBTQ+ bill before parliament.

Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa said Ghana will apply the same principle should these foreign missions embark on this “reckless and provocative path.”

In a Twitter post, the lawmaker described the action of visa denial as “most primitive, an unmitigated affront and a grave assault on our sovereignty. It is primitive, an unmitigated affront and grave assault on our sovereignty for any country to use visa considerations as a weapon to influence the decision of duly elected lawmakers.

“Our foreign ministry must promptly serve notice that the principle of reciprocity will apply to any nation that embarks on this reckless and provocative path,” he wrote on his social media page, Twitter.

Muntaka revealed that some MPs are being denied visas due to their advocacy for the bill.

He cautioned that MPs will be forced to demonstrate against embassies if they maintain their position of denying them visas.

He said that all avenues including shutting down the embassies will be employed if the situation does not change.

“If we find any embassy that uses this [the passing of the bill] to deny MPs visas, we’ll organise a demonstration to close down that embassy,” he said.

Source: ghanaweb.com