Speaker of Parliament, Alban S.K. Bagbin, has in a cryptic statement, disagreed with the position of President John Dramani Mahama on the anti LGBTQ+ Bill.
While the President believes the Bill died with the last Parliament, the Speaker however said, the Bill is still alive and will ensure that it is sent to the President for his assent this year. “I am going to write and send it to the new Attorney General for his comments so we can resend it to the new President for his assent. It is not going to take a long time; it will be passed this year,” Speaker Bagbin said during an interaction with the Ghanaian community in Côte d’Ivoire on January 21.
The Bill
The Anti-LGBTQ Bill, a Private Member’s Bill, dubbed: “Promotion of Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values Bill, 2022”, was passed by Parliament in February 2024. It proscribes lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and related activities.
Following its passage by Parliament, the then President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, in a letter to the Clerk of Parliament, urged the House to desist from transmitting the Bill to his Office for Presidential assent until two legal challenges against it were settled.
Mahama’s position
Bagbin’s position runs contrary to that of President Mahama who insists that the Bill died with the 8th Parliament since the then President refused to sign it.
In a recent meeting with Catholic Bishops, President Mahama therefore, suggested that the Bill must be reintroduced as government-sponsored, rather than a private member’s bill, to ensure broader support and consultation with stakeholders.
Different view
However, the Speaker holds a different view. He stated: “Nobody should joke with me when it comes to that area. I can lose my life because of that. It is better not to live than to live in a society where there is man-to-man and woman-to-woman. What is this.”
“The LGBTQ+ Bill was passed by Parliament, but the former President refused to assent to it, which was unconstitutional. There is no law allowing the President to refuse or fail to assent to a bill passed by Parliament,” he said.
Source: Thethundergh.com
