By Elsie Appiah-Osei
Accra, April 23, GNA — Mr Samuel N. George, the principal sponsor of the Human Sexual Rights and Family Values Bill, says Parliament will process the Bill “expeditiously” and forward it to President John Dramani Mahama for assent.
According to Mr George, the legislation has not stalled despite his appointment as a minister.
Speaking on Thursday at a two-day stakeholder engagement organised by Parliament’s Constitutional and Legal Affairs Committee in Accra, Mr George, also the National Democratic Congress (NDC) Member of Parliament (MP) for Ningo-Prampram, said clause-by-clause consideration of the Bill had begun following the Speaker’s referral.
“There is no bill before President Mahama today,” he clarified, noting that concerns raised by religious bodies over delays in the process were valid given the importance of the legislation.
“The calls from very respectable groups like the Catholic Bishops Conference are very well placed because of how sensitive and important this is,” he added.
The Bill, widely known as the anti-LGBTQ Bill, seeks to impose criminal sanctions on same-sex relations and related advocacy activities. It has drawn strong backing from religious groups and criticism from civil society organisations and human rights advocates.
The MP rejected claims that his ministerial appointment had derailed progress, saying: “I have heard people who have said Sam George and his colleague sponsors abandoned us — we have run away because I have been appointed minister. The process is the process.”
He cited public comments by Reverend John Ntim Fordjour, a New Patriotic Party (NPP) MP for Assin South, who had allegedly denied claims that sponsors had abandoned the legislation, stressing that the Bill remains actively before Parliament.
On the state of the legislation, the principal sponsor said: “As for the clauses, we have gone through them, we have masticated them, and we will go through them expeditiously. The body of the law remains the same.”
He also referenced appeals from religious leadership, stating: “I believe that Parliament has a responsibility to grant the Chief Imam his wish and grant the Catholic Bishops their wish,” he said.
The MP expressed confidence in presidential assent once Parliament concludes its work, though he did not provide details of the assurances he referenced.
The Bill, which was in the Eighth Parliament, elapsed after it was not assented to by the President at the time.
GNA
Edited by Audrey Dekalu