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On Wednesday July 9, 2025, the Director of Legal Affairs for the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC), Godwin Edudzi Tamakloe, pushed back against what he calls a “misleading” interpretation by legal practitioner and broadcaster, Richard Dela Sky, regarding Ghana’s abstention in a vote at the United Nations (UN).
The exchanges between the two lawyers over Ghana’s decision to abstain from a recent vote at the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) have reignited debate on the country’s stance on LGBTQ+ rights.
“I just read a short piece by my brother, Richard Dela Sky, on this issue. He created the impression that Ghana abstained from a vote on an LGBTQ matter. Completely misleading,” Edudzi Tamakloe stated in a Facebook post.
Mr Tamakloe, who is also the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the National Petroleum Authority (NPA), claimed there was no direct vote on LGBTQ+ issues. Instead, Ghana abstained from a vote on whether to extend the mandate of the “UN Independent Expert on Gender, Children, Human Rights”, an issue he believed related to human rights, but not a specific resolution on LGBTQ+ rights.
Richard Dela Sky, who previously challenged the anti-LGBTQ bill in court, had posted a critique of Ghana’s abstention, suggesting that the government’s failure to take a clear stance was emblematic of a deeper moral and political crisis.
“To abstain is not neutrality. It is the silence of uncertainty. Or worse, the cowardice of calculated diplomacy by a regime… that weaponised the anti-gay bill… not out of conviction, but as a tool of political expediency,” Sky wrote.
He argued that Ghana’s decision at the UNHRC contradicted its earlier posturing on the anti-LGBTQ legislation domestically, where lawmakers advanced a bill widely condemned by rights groups.
That bill had stalled amid legal challenges and resistance from a section of the public. It has been reintroduced to Parliament.
The posts by the two legal practitioners have generated divided comments. While some see the UN abstention as a diplomatic move to maintain global relationships, others view it as an act of hypocrisy and a failure of moral leadership.
Following the public uproar, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs responded.
In an interview with the media, Minister for Foreign Affairs, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, dismissed what he called misleading reports suggesting that Ghana had compromised its position by abstaining from a vote on a homosexuality-related motion at the United Nations.
He insisted that the vote in question was not about LGBTQ+ rights, but rather the extension of mandates for independent experts on the Human Rights Council.
“There was no vote on support for LGBTQ+ for which Ghana abstained,” the minister stressed. “Let’s get it clear.”
Mr Ablakwa added that Ghana’s Ambassador in Geneva had submitted a full report, confirming that the vote concerned the mandate of experts dealing broadly with violence against women and people of various sexual orientations.
The Minority in Parliament has called on the government to appear before the House and provide a clear explanation for Ghana’s decision to abstain from the recent vote at the United Nations.
Fact-check Ghana has looked into the claims and presents the findings below.
Claim 1: “Completely misleading… that Ghana abstained from a vote on an LGBTQ matter.”
Verdict: False
Explanation: Contrary to claims by the Director of Legal Affairs for the governing NDC, Edudzi Tamakloe, that it is misleading to say Ghana voted on an LGBTQ+ issue, his assertion is rather false and factually incorrect.
The United Nations Human Rights Council on July 8, 2025, concluded its 59th regular session in Geneva with the adoption of 25 resolutions and one decision, including the extension of six country-specific and thematic mandates.
According to the UN Information Service, the Council extended “for a period of three years, the mandates of the Special Rapporteur on the human rights of internally displaced persons, the Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls, the Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association, the Independent Expert on protection against violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, and the Working Group on discrimination against women and girls.”
Among the most debated items was the renewal of the mandate of the Independent Expert on Protection against Violence and Discrimination based on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity (SOGI). The Council adopted the resolution with 29 votes in favour, 15 against, and 3 abstentions—with Ghana, Benin, and Kyrgyzstan abstaining.
The mandate of SOGI, originally created in 2016, was designed to combat discrimination and violence against individuals based on their sexual orientation or gender identity. It has since been renewed in 2019, 2022, and now in 2025.
In a report by the UN Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner, the renewed mandate enables the expert to “assess the implementation of international human rights law, raise awareness, engage in dialogue with all relevant stakeholders, and provide advisory services, technical assistance, [and] capacity-building to help address violence and discrimination against persons on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.”
According to the UNHRC, sexual orientation encompasses homosexuals, bi-sexuals, pan-sexual, asexual and “wide range of other expressions of sexual orientation”. This clearly explains that, the renewed mandate includes work that affects individuals across the LGBTQ+ spectrum.
Since November 1, 2023, the role of Independent Expert on SOGI has been held by Graeme Reid, a South African scholar and longtime human rights advocate. Reid formerly served as Director of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Rights Program at Human Rights Watch, which he joined in 2011.
Reid has an extensive background in gender and sexuality studies. He was the founding director of the Gay and Lesbian Archives of South Africa. His academic and advocacy work has focused on LGBTQ+ issues, gender, and HIV/AIDS.
Based on the above, it is clear that the Director of Legal Affairs for the NDC, Edudzi Tamakloe’s claim that it is misleading to say Ghana voted on an LGBTQ+ issue at the 59th session of the UNHRC is false. Mr Tamakloe’s claim is rather false and misinforms the public.
Claim 2: “There was a vote on the extension of the mandate of the Independent Expert on Gender, Children, Human Rights….. and Ghana abstained.”
Verdict: Misleading
Explanation: At the recently concluded UN Human Rights Council 59th session, there was nothing like, “vote on the extension of the mandate of the Independent Expert on Gender, Children, Human Rights….. and Ghana abstained,” as claimed by NDC’s Edudzi Tamakloe.
What the UN Human Rights Council held was the mandate on the Independent Expert on protection against violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, which Ghana and two other countries abstained.
The vote was strictly on an independent expert on protection against violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. It did not include “Gender, Children and Human Rights” as claimed by Edudzi Tamakloe.
From the above, it is clear that the claim by NDC’s Director of Legal Affairs and CEO of NPA, Mr Edudzi Tamakloe, that there was a vote on the extension of the mandate of the Independent Expert on Gender, Children, Human Rights and Ghana abstained is misleading. It was rather a vote on the Independent Expert on protection against violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.
