A new movement to unite Africa around traditional family values took a significant step forward on June 3 when representatives from about 20 countries met at Parliament House in Accra, Ghana. The delegates attending the 4th African Inter-Parliamentary Conference on Family, Sovereignty and Values adopted a ‘Charter on Family, Sovereignty and Values’ designed to strengthen cooperation in defence of the family, cultural identity and national sovereignty.

The core objectives are to protect the traditional African family structure, resist outside pressures to adopt agendas promoted by the West as “human rights” and promote African self-sufficiency in all areas. The goal is that, by coming together on core traditional and family values, African countries can form a bloc large enough in terms of population and resources to veto any undesirable agenda that western or eastern blocs try to force upon them.

Fifty per cent of Africans are Christian and, in terms of Catholicism, Africa is a key continent. Twenty per cent (288 million) of the world’s Catholics live in Africa. It is the fastest-growing region for Catholicism globally, and African Catholics will shortly outnumber Europeans. Twenty-nine of the 52 sub-Saharan countries have more than 20 per cent Catholics. Forty-two per cent (400 million) of Africans are Muslim.

Africa’s Catholicism is vibrant, increasing by 3.3 per cent in a single year. This is helped by high birth rates and youth engagement. Africa has one-third of all seminarians in the world. African bishops now represent 14 per cent (771) of all bishops. Four countries have about 20 million or more Catholics: the Democratic Republic of the Congo (54.5 million), Nigeria (26.7 million), Uganda (20.6 million) and Tanzania (18.6 million). Ghana has about 13 per cent, or three million, Catholics.

The African Catholic bishops showed themselves to be courageous and faithful to Church teaching when they were the only group to refuse to compromise with the Vatican declaration Fiducia Supplicans on blessings for homosexual couples in 2023.

A new drive to unify Africa was started three years ago in Uganda. Sarah Opendi, a Catholic MP and chair of the Uganda Parliamentary Forum on the Family, was the founding chair of the first of these African parliamentary councils. She is the primary legal and political architect behind the African Charter put forward for adoption at the meeting in Accra. The charter seeks agreement by African heads of state to unite in overriding new international “human rights” provisions that conflict with African cultural and family values.

Uganda has been particularly concerned by the frequent linking by western countries of LGBTQ+ recognition and related “rights” to foreign aid, both as an incentive for policy reform and as a condition of receiving assistance. Uganda has been criticised for enacting stringent laws against homosexuality, but it should be remembered that, in the 19th century, the king of Buganda, Kabaka Mwanga, executed 45 young men for defying his authority and his sexual advances. These men became the Martyrs of Uganda and are celebrated each year as symbols of religious faith and conservative cultural values.

Ghana has also recently passed laws against homosexuality. Scripture and the Catholic Church teach that homosexual acts are depraved. The normalisation of homosexual behaviour in western societies has, it is argued, been highly destructive; it has undermined family life and led to the exploitation of children. In addition, the charter identifies several key areas of concern: the introduction of “sexual and reproductive health and rights” (SRHR), including abortion, radical gender ideology, sexuality education and controversial medical practices, as well as broader moral principles and legal systems.

The charter seeks to defend the family, parental rights and Africa’s spiritual and cultural identity from these incursions. One notable and concerning exception, however, is the absence of any mention of the dangers of contraception. Since Humanae Vitae, the Catholic Church has held that contraception is wrong, and Pope St John Paul II described it as “profoundly unlawful”. Mainline Protestantism, however, accepts contraception.

Since the percentage of Protestants in Africa (55 per cent) is greater than that of Catholics (35 to 40 per cent), this may be one reason why contraception was not included among the concerns listed. However, contraception has been identified as a major catalyst in the change in sexual behaviour that occurred in the 1960s. In the US and the UK, both divorce and abortion increased dramatically about 10 years after contraception became widely used. Research has suggested that contraceptives alter the brain’s reward-processing pathways and may have indirectly facilitated an increase in homosexuality. This has risen from about one to three per cent in the 1960s to around nine per cent today.

If contraception, particularly hormonal pills and depot injections, is not curtailed, there is a serious danger that African society may follow the path of the West, even if stringent laws are passed. The fertility rate in Africa has decreased from 6.5 births per woman in the 1950s to about 4.0 today. During this period, Melinda Gates has donated nearly $4 billion towards contraception and sterilisation programmes in Africa and India in the belief that she is helping society.

On the second day of the conference, Archbishop Gabriel Anokye of Kumasi gave a key reflection on behalf of the Ghana Catholic Bishops’ Conference. He also affirmed the traditional distinction between man and woman. The conference concluded with the successful signing of the charter by the delegates. There was one abstention: South Africa, whose representative said that the definition of marriage as between a man and a woman conflicted with her country’s established definition.

In conclusion, although the conference was not religiously based, it demonstrated the depth of religious faith in many African countries. Prayers were offered each day by different pastors, and the Ghana Catholic Bishops’ Conference sent a representative. While the charter does not reflect any one religion, God is mentioned and, in reality, its principles are rooted in Natural Law.

The parliamentarians, however, should be urged to reconsider the exclusion of contraception, because it cannot be described as anything other than a societal poison.

‍