Speaker of the House Alban Bagbin has stated that the anti-LGBT Bill presently before parliament will be passed before the next elections.
The Promotion of Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values Bill Committee was requested earlier this week by the Speaker to accelerate its work so that it may deliver its report to the house for discussion.
Rt. Hon. Bagbin stressed that “the sexual rights and human values Bill that is being handled by the committee would definitely be passed before the next elections” when speaking to the media. That Bill will succeed.
The Minority had threatened to obstruct the approval of government bills if the anti-LGBT Bill wasn’t worked on quickly and accused the Committee of purposefully delaying work on the Bill.
Although statistics show that the majority of Ghanaians support the Bill, it has drawn criticism from prominent artists and intellectuals.
According to the Bill, individuals of the same sex who engage in sexual activity risk up to 10 years in prison.
If the Bill becomes law, various types of support for the LGBTQ+ community will also be made illegal.
However, it has sparked a lot of discussions, with many people expressing varying opinions regarding certain parts in the text.
“When we talk about sexual rights, we are talking about things that will add value to human beings by way of creating opportunities and equal playing ground in giving privileges and rights to everyone and removing all the restrictions and hurdles to make people freer. That is what we call human rights, whatever negates this is not a human right”, the Speaker of Parliament added.
There have been rumours that MPs who support the Bill may be denied various privileges from members of the international community following the heated discussions amid pressure on Parliament to enact the Bill.
Memoranda in support of the Bill and to help it be improved have been sent by numerous individuals and organizations.
Several eminent legal, intellectual, and civil society experts have also submitted documents contesting the law.
They claim that the Bill is an “impermissible invasion of the inviolability of human dignity” in the memorandum.
They added that passing the Bill would mean undermining Ghana’s democracy and constitution.
