The Honorary Consul of Bulgaria to Ghana, Nicolaas Van Staalduinen, has cautioned that companies from Western countries are likely to exit Ghana if the anti-LGBTQI+ Bill is passed into law.
According to him, companies in Europe, the United States of America (USA) and the rest of the developed world, have to comply to their country’s laws, not to Ghana’s laws.
He issued the caution during a Questions and Answers (Q&A) segment at the 9th Ghana Investment Promotion Centre’s (GIPC) Economic Counselor Dialogue held in Accra.
Parliamentarians on Wednesday unanimously adopted the anti-LGBTQI+ Bill dubbed the “Promotion of Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values Bill, 2022”.
Bulgaria Consul
Staalduinen said “there’s something else going on at this moment in Parliament. We’re talking about the LGBTQI+ laws.
“The same companies in Europe and in the US and the rest of the developed world have to comply to their laws, not to Ghana’s laws. That can also result in companies having to leave the country.”
He also said companies from the western world may also exit due to failure to address ecological problems.
“Now what is happening is that with the ecological problems that are going on around the world, we will reach a time that European and American companies are not allowed to invest anymore in problems of the ecology.
“That is in deforestation, in crude oil, pollution, anything else, and at this moment there are guidelines, but it will reach a time where banks are not allowed to invest in those companies who will invest in Ghana, so that can be an important point where companies have to leave Ghana.
“So there’s a big extra risk which investors are weighing before investing,” he said.
“The reason I’m talking about this is because in the future there will be things happening in the investment world and especially in Ghana.
“Some countries and some companies in some countries might be forced to leave Ghana.
“European, American and other developed countries… those companies have to comply to their laws, not to Ghanaian laws,” he stated.
“Is the GIPC adapting on those recent developments?” he asked.
“Because the new GIPC act has been prepared for so many years, and I know there are constant readjustments, and I can imagine that the problems of six years ago have been addressed, but not the problems of the recent two, three years,” he said.
