Already passed anti-gay bill still relevant — Majority Leader

The Majority Leader, Mahama Ayariga, has stated that there is no need for Parliament to reconsider the Human Sexual Rights and Family Values Bill, 2021, popularly known as Anti-gay Bill. 

He said the bill had already been passed by Parliament and was awaiting a presidential assent.

“So that is where it should be taken up, and I do not see why anybody should bring us a bill that we have passed already,” he said.
 

Speaker unaware

Speaking at the Leaders’ media briefing, Mr Ayariga said Members of Parliament (MPs) must rather take the steps to push for the bill to be given presidential assent.

He said when he asked the Speaker, Alban Bagbin, why a bill passed by the House was contained on the Order Paper, Mr Bagbin expressed surprise that it was contained on the Order Paper.

Parliament passed the Human Sexual Rights and Family Values Bill, 2021, in February 2024.

The bill imposes three years’ minimum jail term and five years’ maximum incarceration on those who engage in or promote homosexual activities in the country.

If assented to by the President, the bill, which enjoyed overwhelming support of members of the House, will criminalise and prohibit pro-gay advocacy, as well as those who fund the activities of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, queer/questioning, asexual and other such groups.

Who brought the bill?

Mr Ayariga, who is also the MP for Bawku, said the sponsors of the bill had not been able to convince him that there was the need to bring back what the House had already passed.

He said following the Speaker’s expression of surprise when he found out that the bill had been re-advertised on the Order Paper, the Speaker invited the Clerk to Parliament in his presence.

“He asked the Clerk how the bill found its way advertised on the Order Paper because he, too, did not know how it got on the Order Paper. 

Property Rights of Spouses Bill

Questioning the rationale behind the decision of the bill sponsors to invite the House to reconsider it, the Leader of Government Business recalled that he and the Speaker agreed that what should attract the House’s attention was a Private Member’s Bill, the Property Rights of Spouses Bill, sponsored by the Deputy Minority Leader, Patricia Appiagyei.

“Even though we know government also has plans to introduce the same bill, the government has not brought it first, but a private member has brought hers first, and so we will consider that one,” he said. 

Pass the bill

Reacting to the Majority Leader’s position, the Minority Leader, Alexander Afenyo-Markin, recalled the entrenched position the then Minority Caucus, now Majority Caucus, took when the bill was introduced in the House.

He said members of the NDC caucus at the time were clear in their “ambush” in pushing the House to pass the bill.

“Now, the chickens have come home to roost. Only yesterday, when we were raising this issue, Mr Speaker, you were saying that the bill must pass.

“Now, you are in government and in the hot seat and when the IMF, the World Bank, the Inter-Parliamentary Union are threatening, you are now running away saying procedure,” he said.

Mr Afenyo-Markin insisted that there was nothing administratively wrong about the bill, adding that “you forced LGBTQ on the throat of the Akufo-Addo government, but today you do not want LGBTQ”.

Accusing the NDC of using the LGBTQ+ Bill as a propaganda tool to win elections, he said the  government was running away when the international community was “warning you and you want to run away”.

“I was there, and I pleaded with you to manage the situation, but you forced this bill on us,” he said.