Church leader apologises to Ghana President over MSP boycott
The leader of a church in Scotland has apologised to Ghana’s President because of a snub by MSPs over his human rights record.
David Robertson, the moderator of the Free Church of Scotland, has said it was wrong for John Dramani Mahama to face embarrassment in a recent visit to the Scottish Parliament.
He said the actions taken by MSPs, which included not clapping for the African nation’s leader, over its LGBT policies was “rudeness and discourtesy”.
In particular, Mr Robertson targeted Ruth Davidson, leader of the Scottish Conservatives, who he described as “childish” for not clapping – in light of her party welcoming a Chinese delegation last year.
“In my view her actions, along with those of Patrick Harvie and some other MSPs, was rude, childish, hypocritical and indeed came with more than an alarming tinge of racism, that comes from the moral superiority of the white liberal elites, who just know that they are at the top of the progressive evolutionary tree,” he told The Herald.
“Ms Davidson belongs to and supports a party which gave a state welcome to the Chinese leader, whose policies on LGBT issues are not that much different from Ghana.
“Would the Tory leader object to the Chinese visiting the Scottish Parliament? Did she make representations to the British Government about the Chinese being given a state welcome to the UK last year? If not, why not?
“Why protest about Ghana and behave in such a rude and ignorant manner? I am all for standing up for principle, but not what it is selective and hypocritical.”
Mr Robertson added that he believed the actions of the MSPs had done more harm than good and said that “not only do they want to impose their particular morals on their own people, they are so convinced of their superiority that they feel they have a right to impose them on the whole world. Liberal Colonialism is alive and well!”
Speaking after the President’s visit to Scotland, a former deputy leader of Ghana’s parliament said the continent had to resist homosexuality.
