Reverend Matthew Kwasi Gyamfu, President of the Catholic Bishops’ Convention of Ghana
The Chairman of the Ghana Catholic Bishops’ Convention, Reverend Matthew Kwasi Gyamfi, stated Ghana should be absolutely ready to reject international assist if such monetary help carries tags which can be inconsistent with the nation’s values and nationwide pursuits.
The candid feedback by the extremely influential cleric come within the wake of the latest passage of the Human Rights and Household Values Invoice 2025 (Anti-LGBTQ+ Invoice) in Parliament on Friday, Could twenty ninth.
Western governments and multilateral donors have signaled that public funds shall be severely affected and will freeze important budgetary assist to West African nations if the invoice is formally signed into legislation.
The amended anti-LGBTQ+ invoice handed by Congress seeks to severely criminalize LGBTQ+ actions within the nation. Nonetheless, after intense debate and structural amendments in Congress, the ultimate doc consists of strategic authorized exemptions.
These authorized safeguards defend attorneys who present important authorized companies to LGBTQ+ people, journalists who objectively report on LGBTQ+ tendencies, and medical or psychological well being professionals who present commonplace well being care, psychological assist, or skilled counseling companies.
Regardless of these human rights changes, the invoice has generated vital polarizing debate each domestically and internationally.
Supporters together with conventional rulers, Islamic clerics and Christian teams say the legislation is completely essential to guard Ghana’s household values and cultural heritage. Quite the opposite, critics and worldwide organizations argue that it critically undermines elementary constitutional rights and warns of detrimental results on Ghana’s worldwide relations and donor-led growth help.
Talking on Metropolis FM on Friday, Could 29, 2026, Pastor Most Gyamfi sharply questioned the underlying morality and sensible worth of worldwide monetary assist, difficult the concept that Western donors have Ghana’s finest pursuits at coronary heart.
“There’s a complete ethics and philosophy even in regards to the assist we obtain from so-called donors, to even take into consideration whether or not it’s actually assist, whether or not that assist actually helps us,” the revered Catholic bishop asserted.
The cleric instructed that quite than seeing the potential withdrawal of international funds as an financial catastrophe, Ghana ought to use it as a golden alternative to interrupt the long-standing cycle of dependence and obtain true and uncompromising sovereignty.
“Maybe we’d be higher off in the event that they took away the help. We might not want the help they provide us,” he boldly said.
The President of the Bishops’ Convention pressured that the preservation of Ghana’s cultural identification and nationwide rules can’t be monetized or bartered for international forex.
He appealed to governments and folks to just accept the structural sacrifices essential to guard nationwide sovereignty, even when it means shedding thousands and thousands of {dollars} in international loans and subsidies.
Pastor Most Gyamfi stated with unwavering conviction:
“If that is an inherent and important existential curiosity for Ghana, then if they are saying, ‘When you do not do that, we can’t provide you with any assist,’ we are saying, ‘Take your assist, so we will survive.'”
The distinguished non secular chief concluded his submission by calling on state directors to urgently rebuild the financial system in direction of full self-reliance, arguing that the nation has adequate pure and human sources to handle its core points with out counting on conditional international charity.
“Which means we may be self-sufficient and self-sufficient in main points,” Pastor Most Gyamfi added.
