By Iddi Yire/Elsie Appiah-Osei
Accra, Feb 15, GNA – Parliament on Thursday began the Second Consideration Stage of the “Promotion of Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values Bill, 2022” following a Motion filed by Mr Alexander Kwamina Afenyo-Markin, the Deputy Majority Leader.
The object of the Bill is to provide for proper human sexual rights and Ghanaian family values proscribe lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer (LGBTQ+) and related activities.
It has already gone through the First Consideration and was about to be taken through the Third reading when Mr Afenyo-Markin moved his Motion.
Standing on Order 171 of the House, Mr Afenyo-Markin, in his substantive Motion, appealed to the Speaker for the Bill to be taken through the Second Consideration.
Order 171(1) of the new Standing Orders of the House states that “Where a member objects to delete, amend to introduce a provision in the Bill, which has passed through the Consideration Stage, the Member may immediately before the Sponsor rises to move the Motion for the Third Reading of the Bill, move that the Bill be taken through a Second Consideration Stage either wholly or in respect of a particular part or part of the Bill or some proposed new clauses or new schedules.”
“(2) Notice of this motion is not required and if the Motion is agreed to the Bill shall immediately pass Second Consideration Stage.
“(3) Where the whole Bill has been ordered to pass through a Second Consideration, the House shall move through the Bill in a manner provided for on Order 170.”
Mr Afenyo-Markin, also the New Pratiotic Party (NPP) Member of Parliament (MP) for Effutu, said his Motion was to afford the august House the opportunity to thoroughly consider the amendments he had proposed with the view of substituting community service for incarceration.
“The Amendments presented in this Bill are motivated by a strong conviction regarding the necessity of implementing a more rehabilitative way strategy in our Criminal Justice System, specifically with regards to the issue at stage”, he said.
“Mr Speaker, the issue before us is behavioral and it is my humble view that in dealing with behavioral matters, incarceration is not the solution, it makes the matter worse.”
He noted that various law reforms had been proposed in respect of sentencing regimes in the country and that various discourse leads to one point that the nation’s court system should introduce a more humanely reformative and rehabilitative system where people who breached the nation’s laws would have an opportunity to reform and reintegrated into society.
“Mr Speaker, it is my conviction that with all of these in mind, to jail a person for his sexuality or her sexuality would not be the solution in maintaining our Ghanaian family values and ensuring proper human sexual rights.”
He noted that such individuals who got into jail became worse off.
“Mr Speaker, as law student in my final year at Makola I went to Nsawam (Maximum Security Prison) with my colleagues and it became clear that inmates were being sodomized.”
“It became clear that people were rather getting deeper into that habit and that is a behavioral aspect of our culture that we dislike.”
Mr Afenyo-Markin reiterated that he was for a law that promoted Proper Ghanaian Family Values and Sexuality and against those aspects that would make the individual worse off.
His iotion was seconded by Mr Emmanuel Bedzrah, the National Democratic Congress MP for Ho West, and one of the Sponsors of the Private Member’s Bill: “Promotion of Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values Bill, 2022”.
Mr Kwame Governs Agbodza, the Minority Chief Whip, said he was not against the Motion, which was carried when the Speaker put it to a voice vote.
GNA