Why abortion, LGBTIQ rights aren’t priority in Africa
Amidst antipathy from the country’s religious leaders and a section of the political establishment, the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD+25) is underway in Nairobi.
The three-day Nairobi Summit, which ends today, marks 25 year’s since the first ICPD was held in Cairo in 1994. At the inaugural conference, 179 governments adopted a programme of action centred on reproductive health, women’s empowerment, and gender equality.
Today, the ICPD has taken a larger scope, incorporating achievement of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Similarly, the ICPD continues to aggressively promote universal sexual and reproductive health as an integral part of achieving these goals.
For those in the know, sexual and reproductive health is simply a cover up for something surreptitious. According to religious organisations, for instance, the ICPD’s cardinal objective is to push for the legalisation of uncontrolled abortion, and introduction of the rights of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, and queer/questioning (LGBTIQ) community.
It was refreshing to hear both President Uhuru Kenyatta and his deputy William Ruto reading from the same script on the ICPD controversy. Both stated that any diabolical agenda against African customs and spirituality was totally abhorrent.
But now that we would not have banned the conference categorically, let us prepare to undertake a social audit of the final report. The communique will either vindicate the opponents, or prove their worst fears. But one thing is sure; there is a lot bubbling under.
At the current stage of our demographic evolution, we do not have the luxury of exploring our sexual and reproductive limits in our societies. Africa has bigger fish to fry, like fighting the twin evils of poverty and corruption. Sex and reproduction wildness are really first world problems!
Indeed, not everyone in the system is sold on to the idea. I watched a clip from a recent UN conference showing women delegates opposing the notion that women should be exposed to an unbridled right to abortion. They defend the right of the unborn to also live as nature had planned.
As expected in such circumstances, the Church has taken leadership in opposing the Nairobi conference. Of course, the Kenyan Church is not on the same wavelength with their Western counterparts. The latter is largely a dying institution.
There is push back against some of the alien lifestyles being forced on our people. Even in the US, the so-called land of the free, President Donald Trump is stepping his foot down on State funding of abortion and gay-related activities. He is also backpedalling some of the gains made by the LGBTIQ community.
In Kenya, a female medical doctor has stood up against this cultural indoctrination and colonisation, by suing the government for decriminalising the age-old female circumcision. She may appear as a maverick, but she is making a moot point regarding what the African society stands for.
Suffice it to say that Africa needs population development, not control. The concept of free choice and sexual adventurism is nowhere near the list of priorities. The perception that Africa needs to reduce her population is a foreign narrative touted by the continent’s neo-colonialists for their own advantage.
Ultimately, Kenyans must now ask themselves why they attract all these busybodies. Word has it that similar conferences have been denied permits in countries like Ethiopia. But am not feigning ignorance; we all know our leaders legendary greed and myopia has taken us over the socio-economic precipice.
It is only strong leadership that can counter any anti-social narratives being advocated by people who will stop at nothing.
—The writer is a communication expert, and public policy analyst. [email protected]
