Ghana Joins Uganda in Outrage Over UK Aid Threat

The president of Ghana has rebuked recent comments by UK Prime Minister David Cameron, who said that Commonwealth countries that criminalize homosexuality could see cuts in foreign aid.

President John Atta Mills told the BBC that the United Kingdom should not "direct to other sovereign nations as to what they should do."

"I, as president, will never initiate or support any attempt to legalize homosexuality in Ghana," Atta Mills said.

Last weekend, Cameron said that Commonwealth countries should "adhere to proper human rights," including the rights of LGBT individuals, or risk losing a type of bilateral aid. Ghana received about $144 million in UK bilateral aid last year.

Cameron's comments led John Nagenda, an adviser to Ugandan president Yoweri Museveni, to tell the BBC earlier this week that the UK shouldn't treat Ugandans like "children" and that the country, where gays face virulent, state-sanctioned homophobia, is "tired of these lectures."

"[T]his kind of ex-colonial mentality of saying: 'You do this or I withdraw my aid' will definitely make people extremely uncomfortable with being treated like children," Nagenda said.

(Information on the state of LGBT rights in Ghana can be found at the International Gay & Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC) website.)