Alban Bagbin
Source: Africa Publicity
Ghana’s Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, has urged the reintroduction of the country’s controversial anti-LGBTQ+ bill in the current Parliament, saying the eighth Parliament is now history and every business that took in it has ended.
Mr. Bagbin made the clarification after a week of uncertainty over the bill.
Majority Leader in Parliament had argued that the bill had been passed by the eighth Parliament and therefore did not need to reintroduced.
However, Mr. Bagbin disagreed with the Majority Leader’s position.
According to the Speaker, all pending business in the eighth Parliament ceased to exist when that Parliament was dissolved.
He said “The eighth Parliament is history. So are all the businesses that were pending in the eighth Parliament. They all ended with the eighth Parliament and so we have a new Parliament — the ninth Parliament — and therefore what was pending there came to an end and has to be reintroduced.”
The Speaker noted that the bill had been transmitted to former President Nana Akufo-Addo, who declined to assent to it.
He stressed that the presidency during Akufo-Addo’s tenure failed to fulfill its constitutional obligation to return the bill to Parliament with reasons for the refusal.
He said “They wrote to tell us that they would not assent to it. The only constitutional error they committed was that they didn’t give us reasons why they would not assent to it, and they did not transmit the bill back to us. They imprisoned it there.”
According to him, the nineth Parliament has now taken back the bill, which originated as a private member’s bill spearheaded by MPs with the backing of traditional, religious, and civil society leaders.
He said “As you would recall, that’s a private member’s bill, and so members of this House took it up. It went through the whole process as detailed in our Standing Orders. But as it went through the process, the new government indicated that they wanted to take it as a public bill.
“I personally disagreed and made it known to His Excellency the President that this was an initiative of our people — the traditional leaders, the religious leaders, civil society leaders and so we would process it as a private member’s bill.”
About the bill
The controversial bill is being spearheaded by the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) Member of Parliament for Ningo-Prampram, Sam George, and the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) MP for Assin South, Ntim Fordjour.
The Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Values Bill was originally introduced in 2021. The bill seeks to criminalize LGBTQ+ activities and their promotion, advocacy and funding in Ghana.
Among other things, the bill proposes jail terms of up to three years for engaging in same sex acts and up to 10 years for promoters and funders of LGBTQ+ activities.
Since 2021, Ghana’s Parliamentary Committee on Constitutional, Legal, and Parliamentary Affairs, has held public hearings on the bill.
The Committee has received over 150 memoranda from religious bodies, traditional leaders, civil society organizations, and international advocates.
