• The anti-LGBTQ+ Bill is set to be considered by Parliament when the house resumes next week
• The bill has sharply divided public opinion with most Ghanaians expressing support for it
Parliament received close to 200 memos in respect of an anti-LGBTQ+ Bill that the house is set to continue work on when it reconvenes next week.
This was disclosed by Member of Parliament for South Dayi, Rockson-Nelson Dafeamekpor, who is one of eight MPs who sponsored the Bill.
“At the close of business, the Constitutional, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Committee of Parliament received 198 Memos on the Anti LGBTQ++ Bill. Unprecedented. Game on,” he posted in a tweet on Thursday, October 21.
He did not state how many of the memos were for or against the Bill.
Head of the Committee in question, Kwame Anyimadu Antwi was quoted last week as stating that 124 memos had been received on behalf of the Committee.
He stressed that their work was to sift through the submissions and to report back to the house. The bill has two more reading stages and a consideration stage to exit Parliament and be submitted for presidential accent.
Promoters of the anti-LGBTQ+ Bill
The LGBTQ+ Bill before Parliament is titled: "The Promotion of Proper Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values Bill 2021." It is a Private Members' Bill sponsored by a bipartisan group of lawmakers.
The eight MPs who sponsored the Bill are Sam Nartey George (MP, Ningo Prampram), Emmanuel Bedzrah (MP, Ho West) Della Adjoa Sowah (MP, Kpando), John Ntim Fordjour (MP, Assin South) – the sole NPP MP sponsoring the Bill.
The remaining sponsors are Alhassan Sayibu Suhuyini (MP, Tamale North), Helen Adjoa Ntoso (MP, Krachi West), Rita Naa Odoley Sowah (MP, La Dadekotopon) and Rockson-Nelson Dafeamekpor (MP, South Dayi).
Ghana’s pro-gay collective
A group of 18 academicians and human rights defenders have voiced strong opposition to the bill before Parliament, which is seeking to extensively criminalize the activities of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Intersex, LGBTQ+.
The group submitted a memorandum to Parliament seeking that the bill be rejected because it was largely unconstitutional and infringed on basic human rights.
Members of Parliament behind the bill, led by Ningo Prampram MP Sam Nartey George, have rubbished the memorandum and asserted that the bill will be passed into law because it has the support of the wider Ghanaian populace.
Parliament will discuss the bill when the house reconvenes in a number of days