President John Dramani Mahama has indicated that the recently approved Human Sexual Rights and Family Values Bill, 2025, commonly referred to as the anti-LGBTQ+ Bill, is still a considerable distance away from being enacted.
Speaking during a question-and-answer session at Chatham House in the UK on Monday 1 June, Mr Mahama explained that numerous procedural and legal hurdles surrounding the legislation must be resolved before any determination can be made regarding presidential assent.
The president remarked that the proposed legislation has garnered substantial public scrutiny due to its consequences for social policy and domestic principles within Ghana.
“The Human Sexual Rights and Family Values Bill has probably been the bill that has evoked the most interest in Ghana. It shows how important issues of family values are,” he said.
He noted that challenges have already surfaced concerning the specific manner in which parliament approved the legislation.
Mr Mahama highlighted anxieties regarding whether a legislative quorum was present during the vote, alongside claims of procedural irregularities during the lawmaking process.
“There have been a few issues raised. One, that there wasn’t quorum when it was passed. That’s an issue that has come up, and then two, there were some procedural lapses in terms of its passage,” he stated.
He further disclosed he had been informed that the Speaker of Parliament was currently reviewing the grievances raised about the approval process.
Once the document is formally forwarded to the presidency, it will be subjected to a rigorous legal assessment prior to any final verdict.
Mr Mahama clarified that the Attorney General and presidential legal advisers would meticulously examine the text because it commenced as a private member’s bill instead of an executive-sponsored initiative.
“It must come for assent and so once the president gets it, you go through it because you are not part of the discussion in Parliament. The legal counsel in the Presidency and the Attorney General would sit on it and make sure that everything is in order before the president is advised to assent,” he said.
Additionally, Mr Mahama detailed alternative constitutional pathways open to the head of state, which include seeking counsel from the Council of State if problems persist.
He added that should profound flaws be uncovered, the president maintains the authority to send the legislation back to parliament whilst specifying the exact matters requiring rectification.
By: Rainbowradioonline.com/Ghana
