Anti-gay bill: MPs votes will be public – Speaker

Speaker of Parliament, Rt. Hon. Alban Bagbin has assured Ghanaians that voting on the Promotion of Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values Bill, 2021, in parliament will be made public.

“We will want to know where each Member of Parliament (MP) stands,” the Speake said in an address when Parliament reconvened on Tuesday, October 26, 2021.

He maintained that the House will not tolerate any attempt to delay passage of the anti-gay bill, every aspect of the process will be public.

He added that common sense and Ghanaian values will inform passage, constitutionally guaranteed rights will be respected.

“At the end of the day, the processes of the House will determine the outcome. And when that is done I’m very convinced that the law that will come out of all this will protect the culture and values of our people and the Ghanaian identity. It’s a law I believe that will also take into consideration, the human rights and freedoms that have been guaranteed under our constitution. And it’s a law that will take into consideration the richness of the common sense – human decency, morality, fact, logic…”

Parliament resumed sitting today, Tuesday, October 26, 2021, to start its third meeting of the first session of the eighth parliament.

A number of bills and papers have been tabled before the House for consideration for the next nine weeks.

At least 56 bills are expected to be presented before the House including Affirmative Action Bill, 2021, Increase Secession Bill, 2021, Rent Bill, 2021, Aged Pensions Bill, 2021, and Small-Scale Mining Bill, 2021 among others.

Meanwhile, some three Bills are currently at the committee level. This includes the Office of the Special Prosecutor (Amendment) Bill, 2021 (Committee on Constitutional, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs), Criminal Offences (Amendment) Bill, 2021 (Committee on Constitutional, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs) and the Promotion of Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values Bill, 2021, Committee on Constitutional, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs).

The House is due to go on recess in December.