Ghana does not need an LGBT bill to enforce family values - President Mahama tells Catholic Bishops
"If we are teaching our values in school, we won't need to pass a bill [on LGBT] to enforce our family values. And that is where I think more than, even the family values bill is [on] us agreeing on a curriculum that inculcates these values into our children as they are growing up so that we don't need to legislate it. And so we will see how all these will go. I am looking forward to a review conference," President John Dramani Mahama has said.
Speaking when a delegation from the Ghana Catholic Bishops’ Conference called on him in Accra, President Mahama highlighted the challenges faced by the initial anti-LGBT bill, which was introduced as a private member’s bill.
He explained that, that particular bill is now "dead" with the tenure of the previous government over.
Reflecting on the legislative hurdles of the previous bill, President Mahama explained that it failed to reach the president’s desk for assent due to legal and procedural issues.
“But as far as I know, the bill did not get to the President. And so, the convention is that all bills that are not assented to before the expiration of the life of parliaments expire. And so that bill effectively is dead, it has expired,” he stated.
President Mahama stressed the importance of a consensus-driven approach, calling for renewed discussions among stakeholders to determine the best path forward.
He argued that a government-sponsored bill is rather the way to go and not a private member's bill and said that would provide a framework for broader consultation and agreement, unlike the private member’s bill.
“The Bill died with the 8th Parliament, but I think we need to have a conversation on that. But I think it should not be a Private Member’s Bill, but a government-sponsored one,” he said.
“If we were teaching our values in schools, we wouldn’t need to pass a bill to enforce our family values,” he explained. “And that is why I think more than even the family values bill, is us agreeing on a curriculum that inculcates these values into our children as they are growing up so that we don’t need to legislate it.”
During the 2024 presidential election campaign, John Dramani Mahama said his decision to assent to the controversial anti-LGBTQI bill, formally titled the “Human Sexual Rights and Family Values Bill,” would depend on a thorough review of its contents.
“It is not an anti-LGBTQI Bill; it is a Family Values Bill. It was approved unanimously by our Parliament. [LGBTQI] is against our African culture, it is against our religious faith, but I think we must look at the Bill, and the president must indicate what he finds wrong with that bill and send it back to Parliament or alternatively he must send it to the Council of State and get the Council of State’s advice.”
‘It depends on what is in the Bill’
When asked directly if he would sign the bill into law if he were elected president, Mahama said: “It depends on what is in the Bill.” He explained that if he had been president when the bill was passed by Parliament, he would have sought a detailed examination of its provisions and consulted with relevant advisory bodies.
“That is what I would have done,” he affirmed.
The Bishops congratulated President on his victory in the 2024 general election. During the meeting, Most Rev Emmanuel Kofi Fianu, Vice President of the Conference, urged the President to consider reintroducing the bill.
“We already know your position, but we are hopeful that you will sign it into law,” he declared.
President Mahama thanked the Catholic Church for its contributions to education and health and welcomed its input on the moral and educational development of the nation’s youth.
Watch the video below:
Ghana does not need an LGBT bill to enforce family values - President Mahama tells Catholic Bishops https://t.co/zsrNwhDVkM pic.twitter.com/YjfDr2mASr
— DailyGraphic GraphicOnline (@Graphicgh) January 14, 2025