The troubles of a gay rights advocate is far from over.
A year after he was attacked and chased out of Aboabo, a suburb of Kumasi in the Ashanti region, Safowan Awudu is still receiving threats of death from residents especially the youth.
The Watchdog Committee of the Aboabo township, has branded Safowan Awudu as a traitor and a disgrace to the community and Islam as a whole.
They had threatened to make Kumasi and Ghana a living hell for not only Safowan but anyone found to be an LGBTQ+ practitioner or sympathizer.
In a latest development, the youth stormed Safowan Awudu’s residence after they received an information that the runaway gay sympathizer had been deported back from the USA where he was said to be seeking for asylum.
According an eye witness, the group stormed Safowan’s residence in a rambo style wielding sharp and offensive weapons.
“They entered the house brandishing machetes and some weapons and shouting were is the traitor,” the source said.
The source who spoke on the condition of anonymity pointed out that he was in the compound when the scary dressed watchdog group members came into the house.
“They told us that they had information that Safowan had returned to the area and he is hidden in the house so they have come to teach him a lesson but we mustered courage and told them that Safowan has never been seen since the last time he was attacked and beaten.”
“The Youth who were more than fifteen asked if we were also aware of his whereabouts and when last we saw him”, he added.
They threatened to kill him anytime they will get him for sympathizing with and advocating for LGBTQI.
“We were also warned not to ever allow Safowan back into the house if we don’t want to incur their wrath”, he revealed.
They threatened to punish anyone found to be the one hiding or assisting Safowan in his advocacy for gay rights in Ghana.
They also promised to widen their nets in their quests to make sure he is brought out from his hideouts to face punishment provided he is in Ghana.
“Gays and their supporters must not be entertained and allowed to destroy our country, we shall never give them the space to operate in Ghana”, the group warned.
Our source told us that Safowan Awudu incurred the wrath of the Watchdog Group and the Aboabo opinion leaders for his soft spot for LGBTQ+ persons in the area.
Around March last year, the group descended on him heavily where a severe punishment was unleashed on him.
“He fled our community since that incidence and was never seen or heard of again”, the source pointed out.
Ghana is a highly anti gay community where LGBTQ+ practitioners are discriminated and abhorred by the people.
There is an anti gay Bill that is currently before parliament awaiting for debates by the MPs to decide whether gay practice be criminalized in the country.
If the Bill is passed, LGBTQ+ persons and advocates as well as sympathizers shall be imprisoned for a maximum of ten years if caught.
Many organizations’ including the Christian Council of Ghana, Muslim community, traditional authorities, professional by bodies and civil society organizations’ have come out to declare their support for the Bill and stiff opposition to homosexuality in Ghana.
