LGBTQ+ bill already passed by previous Parliament, no need to reconsider it - Mahama Ayariga
The Majority Leader, Mahama Ayariga, has said there is no need for Parliament to reconsider the Human Sexual Rights and Family Values Bill, 2021.
According to him, the anti-gay bill had been passed by Parliament already, 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
To Mr Ayariga, MPs must rather take the steps to push for the bill to be given presidential assent.
He told the House when he asked the Speaker why a bill passed by the House was contained in the Order Paper.
Parliament has passed the Human Sexual Rights and Family Values Bill, 2021, he said.
The bill will impose three years minimum jail term and five years’ maximum incarceration on those who engage in and 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, among other such people.
Who brought the bill?
The MP for Bawku said he saw the bill advertised on the Order Paper and enquired who had brought it back to the House.
He said the sponsors of the bill had not been able to convince him that there was a need to relay a bill that the House had already passed.
“So in all sincerity, and I would like to be very, very frank and open,” he said.
Following the Speaker's surprise at having found the bill once re-advertised in the Order Paper, the Speaker invited the Clerk to Parliament in his presence.
“He asked the Clerk how did this bill found its way advertised on the Order Paper because he too did not know how it got on the Order Paper.
Saying that he would like to be transparent, Mr Ayariga expressed the wish that the Clerk was available to testify to his invitation by the Speaker.
Property Rights of Spouses Bill
Questioning the rationale behind the decision of the bill sponsors to invite the House to reconsider it again, the Leader of Government Business recalled that he and the Speaker agreed that a bill that should attract the House’s attention was a private member’s bill, Property Rights of Spouses Bill, sponsored by the Deputy Minority Leader, Patricia Appiagyei.
“So yesterday, Speaker and I agreed that as for that one, we can work on it because it is new.
“Even though we know the government also has plans to introduce the same bill, the government has not brought theirs first, and a private member has brought hers first, and so we will consider that one,” he said.
Pass the bill
But reacting to the Majority Leader’s position, the Minority Leader, Alexander Afenyo-Markin recalled the entrenched position the Majority Caucus took when the bill was introduced in the House.
He said the Majority, then the Minority, were clear in their ambush in pushing the House to pass the bill.
“Now, the chickens have come home to roost, and they have come home. 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.
Saying that there was nothing administratively in error about the bill, Mr Afenyo-Markin said, “You forced LGBT on the throat of the Akufo-Addo government, but today you do not want LGBT”.
Accusing the NDC of using the LGBTQ+ bill as a propaganda tool to win election, he said the current 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.
