Prominent anti-LGBTQ+ advocate and private legal practitioner Moses Foh-Amoaning has intensified his campaign against the University of Ghana (UG), accusing its leadership of succumbing to foreign-influenced “LGBTQ+ driven” ideology through the adoption of gender-neutral pronouns in its statutes.
In a fiery interview on UG’s Radio Univers’ “Campus Exclusive” program on Tuesday, Foh-Amoaning rejected the university’s recent denial of his earlier allegations, vowing legal action and dismissing the changes as a covert endorsement of transgender rights that betrays Ghanaian cultural foundations.
Foh-Amoaning, who serves as Executive Secretary of the National Coalition for Proper Human Sexual Rights and Family Values, recounted his efforts to lobby university officials to reverse the linguistic updates in the 2024 Statutes.
He claimed he approached authorities to urge Vice-Chancellor Prof. Nana Aba Appiah Amfo to reconsider, but was rebuffed. “I reached out to some authorities in the university to speak with the vice-chancellor of the University of Ghana to reverse the changes to their statute which adopted gender-neutral pronouns, but the response was that ‘this is an academic thing. It’s nothing,'” he said. He then warned that: “This is a public university. You are changing its statutes to reflect a culture which is LGBTQ+ driven. I will demonstrate that DEI and inclusivity, and these pronouns are LGBTQ+ driven.”
Referencing UG’s November 24 statement —issued by Registrar Mrs. Emelia Naa Kwantsua Agyei-Mensah —Foh-Amoaning misquoted: “We are changing the pronouns to get gender-neutral pronouns.”
He derided the rationale, asking: “What does that mean?” and insisting that such shifts equate to abandoning biology for ideology. “Adopting gender-neutral pronouns means ‘you are moving away from normal biological sex to anthology. That is what it is. If the vice-chancellor doesn’t know, that is exactly what it is because gender-neutral pronouns are transgender pronouns. They use “they, them, and their.”
The lawyer lambasted UG’s defense, which cited the Bible’s 2011 New International Version (NIV) using singular “they/them” in James 4:17 as evidence of linguistic evolution, calling it “perfidious.”
He drew a provocative parallel: “And said that recently in England, they are ordaining homosexuals into the clergy.” Positioning himself as an academic trailblazer, Foh-Amoaning boasted of his role in debunking pro-LGBTQ+ views at UG’s law faculty: “Before I started challenging standard human rights opinions in the law faculty of the University, everyone believed LGBTQI+ rights are human rights and I pushback that wasn’t true and claimed if they research into human rights, ‘you will see that LGBT are never part of International human rights framework.'”
In a paradoxical nod to UG’s heritage, he praised its tradition of intellectual resistance: “The University of Ghana has produced academics and professors. This university has been built on the basis of innovative and free thinking, and the strength of the capacity to resist foreign knowledge.” He elaborated on rejecting Western impositions: “So even if the white man comes and say, ‘oh this is what we think. It is good.’ We should be able to dissect and say, no. What you are saying is not true.”
Foh-Amoaning targeted academic promotion standards, alleging bias against conservative scholars: “And by the way, one of the things that the vice-chancellor needs to do. Why is it that from promotion from a lecturer to a senior lecturer is based on publications in international journals, peer reviews. Who says who? We were working with the psychology department here, Professor Safo and Professor Jamra, a lot of the writings that this poor lady put in place were not published in so-called international peer reviewed journals, because they like LGBTQ. So, if you write anything counter, they won’t publish it.”
Addressing Prof. Appiah Amfo directly, he challenged: “Madam Vice-chancellor, why is it the that University of Ghana is not championing peer review standards that are responsive to African culture, what we believe in, our ideas, our vision? That is what Dr. Kwame Nkrumah and J.B. Danquah – who built the university, that’s what they built this university on.”He extended his critique to the Registrar: “Is that development, introducing gender-neutral pronouns?”
Issuing a veiled threat, Foh-Amoaning stated: “Let me send a note of caution. I’m not going to retract today or tomorrow. We will draw the attention. We will make presentations, and make them understand the dangers of what they are running into.” He escalated: “Let everybody in this university take note that this matter is easily going to be a legal matter. So, preserve all the documents.”
Outlining repercussions for non-compliance, he highlighted the university’s public accountability: “This is a public university, is owned by the Republic of Ghana, in all the letters that I have shown you, you can see we copied the President, we copied the Chief of Staff, we copied the Minister of Youth. We have notified them. So, if they don’t respond and change it accordingly, we will take the necessary action.”
Dismissing UG’s explanation as disingenuous, he concluded: “The response that they brought is to suggest that, oh, we are only being linguistic. That is not the truth. Pronouns have an ideological background now in the context of the LGBT movement currently in the world.”
While Foh-Amoaning rails against “white man” cultural imperialism, his own coalition has deep ties to Western conservative funding. Reports indicate the National Coalition receives resources from U.S.-based groups like the World Congress of Families (WCF), labeled an anti-LGBTQ+ hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center; Family Watch International (FWI), which has trained African legislators on anti-LGBTQ+ bills; Family Renaissance International (FRI); the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF); and the Howard Center for Family, Religion and Society.
These organizations have funneled millions into African anti-LGBTQ+ efforts, including a 2019 WCF conference in Ghana that shaped the Human Sexual Rights and Family Values Bill. His critiques of DEI and transgender issues mirror the Trump administration’s agenda, influenced by these same donors.Human rights groups decried Foh-Amoaning’s remarks as hypocritical fearmongering that endangers LGBTQ+ individuals in Ghana, where same-sex acts are criminalized. UG has yet to respond, but its prior statement stood firm on the changes as apolitical linguistic modernization.
The escalating feud underscores broader tensions over academic freedom, cultural sovereignty, and global influences in Ghana’s ongoing LGBTQ+ rights debate.
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