GHANA MOB KILLS GAY MAN, SEARCHING FOR PARTNER

A group of Muslim youth in Nima, Accra, who killed a man they accused of being gay, are now trying to track down his partner.

According to Daily Guide, the trouble started when two men, Yaw Nkrumah and Salisu Mohammed, described as “suspected homosexuals,” started “flaunting their romantic relationship in the Muslim-dominated area.”

Two young men confronted Nkrumah about his “ignominious” relationship with Salisu, which led to a scuffle. The men then rallied a mob of around 30 people who stormed Nkrumah’s house, stripped him naked and lynched him, presumably by hanging.

The mob moved on to Mohammed’s home, but he had been warned of the impending attack by a family friend and was able to flee in time. He is said to now be in hiding.

The youth are reported to be determined to hunt down Mohammed to eliminate what they called the “curse” of homosexuality.

The police said that it was difficult to identify the individuals behind mob attacks.

Under Ghanaian criminal law, consensual same-sex sexual activity between men is illegal, with penalties including imprisonment for three years.

In February 2012, the late President Atta Mills stated that while “Ghanaian societies frown on homosexuality” and the country would not legalise homosexuality, “nobody can say in Ghana we discriminate against homosexuality, there is no witch-hunting on homosexuality.”

A 2012 US Department of State Human Rights Report, however, found that “LGBT persons faced widespread discrimination, as well as police harassment and extortion attempts” in Ghana.

In June of 2013,  a self-styled ‘prophet’ claimed that a series of fires that gutted markets in the country were God’s wrath against homosexuality in Ghana.

In November of that year, the education ministry promised to crack down on students caught engaging in gay or lesbian “practices” in order to “stamp out homosexuality that has crept into several senior high schools”.