Westminster is waking up to a diplomatic headache. Ghana's parliament has just passed the Promotion of Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values Bill 2021. It is draconian. Jail time for same-sex relationships. Criminalisation of promoting LGBTQ+ rights. The international outcry is already loud. But for the UK, the calculus is especially tricky.
Whitehall sources are sweating. The Foreign Office has to balance two competing pressures: the moral duty to defend human rights, and the strategic need to maintain influence in a key West African ally. Ghana is not just any country. It is a stable democracy in a volatile region. It is a Commonwealth partner. It is a growing economy where UK trade and investment are increasing. The UK wants to be Ghana's partner of choice, not a lecturing former colonial power.
The statement from the FCDO is carefully worded. 'We are concerned. We will continue to engage. The UK remains committed to international human rights standards.' Translation: We don't like this, but we won't break relations. The official line is that the UK 'respects Ghana's democratic processes' while 'urging' respect for human rights. That is a very fine line to walk.
The real action is happening behind the scenes. The High Commissioner in Accra is being worked overtime. Calls are being made. Quiet diplomacy, not megaphone diplomacy. The hope is that the bill, now passed, will not become law. President Akufo-Addo has not signed it yet. There is a window. He is under pressure from the Church and traditional leaders to sign. But there is also a growing chorus of African voices, including Ghanaian civil society, urging him to veto.
Labour is piling on the pressure. The shadow foreign secretary has demanded the government 'do more'. That is code for 'threaten aid cuts'. But the government knows that aid threats backfire. They play into the narrative of neo-colonial meddling. The UK already cut aid to Ghana by half last year. Further cuts would hit health and education, not government budgets. They would hurt the very people the UK claims to support.
The real test will come at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting later this year. The UK wants a strong statement on LGBT rights. But it needs consensus. Rwanda, Uganda, and Nigeria are watching. They have their own anti-LGBT laws. A tough UK line could fracture the Commonwealth. A weak line would enrage human rights groups and the Labour backbenches.
Inside Downing Street, the calculation is cold. Votes. The government has a comfortable majority. But culture wars are bleeding into foreign policy. Tory backbenchers are split. The 'Global Britain' crowd wants principled post-Brexit leadership. The 'realist' wing wants to prioritise trade and security. The PM is trying to have it both ways. He will make a strong statement. But the policy will be business as usual. Quiet engagement. Public pressure. No sanctions.
The Ghanaian diaspora in the UK is mobilising. There will be protests outside the Ghana High Commission. MPs will be lobbied. The story will not go away. But the UK government's hands are tied. It can condemn. It cannot dictate. This is the messy reality of international politics. Human rights and realpolitik. A hard choice with no clean outcome.
Watch the president's next move. That will determine whether this is a crisis or a political storm in a teacup.
