• An opponent of the bill is lawyer Kofi Bentil who has described the bill as pointless and unconstitutional
• But advocates are adamant that the law will serve the best interest of all Ghanaians
Lawyer and vice president of Imani Africa, Kofi Bentil, has averred that the Privete Members' Bill in Parliament seeking to regulate sex is at best 'pointless.'
According to him, the whole process was unconstitutional and amounted to a waste of time.
The bill in question is titled: "The Promotion of Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values, Bill 2021," and is backed by eight Members of Parliament led by Ningo Prampram MP, Sam George.
"I’ll resist all invitation to discuss the pointless bill to regulate sex in Ghana. It’s patently unconstitutional and a waste of time. Whats saddest is that we used the first opportunity to do a private members Bill for this Brutum Fulmen!!" Bentil posted on Facebook on July 23.
Brutum Fulmen means "meaningless thunderbolt : an empty threat : an ineffectual legal judgment."
Last weekend was packed with social media debates about the propriety or otherwise of the piece of legislation which has been tagged the anti-LGBTQ+ bill.
Speaker of Parliament Alban Bagbin has given his full blessings to the bill and assured that given that it reflects the wider sentiment of all Ghanaians, it will be passed as soon as possible.
"I am pro-life and I will continue to be funny to make sure that lives are save in this world. I will continue to be funny so that this world created by God as a Garden of Eden for us to enjoy will continue to be enjoyed.
"We will not threaten anybody but we shall also not be threatened. Those threatening Members of Parliament who are leading this bill, please be warned.
"We cannot be threatened in our homes, this must be stated loud and clear to those who have come to do business in Ghana. Those who represent their countries and think that they are right, we also represent our country.
"And they will never, they can never dictate to us as to how to live or not live in this world. And I am very clear in my mind that this house, the parliament of Ghana will pass this bill as soon as possible," he said at a meeting in Parliament over the weekend.
Kofi Bentil is a lawyer and Vice President of Imani Africa