Former Attorney-General and a leading member of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) has hit hard at the current holder of the office, Godfred Dame for advising the President wrongly on the Anti-LGBTQI Bill.
Betty Mould Iddrisu says that the President’s decision to bar Parliament from transmitting the bill was wrong.
This comes after some back and forth on what both the Legislature and the Executive could have done on the next stage of the Bill for it to become law. In an exclusive interview with 3News Beatrice Adu, the former A-G disagreed with Godfred Dame’s approach on the matter.
“That’s the opinion of the Attorney-General. He’s clearly wrong. But that’s his opinion and he’s entitled to it. …..I am not in his position. I would do so many things differently if I were in his position now. Not only about this. About everything…….the interpretation of the law is fundamental, and you know, you don’t sit there only as Attorney-General, and you spout out the law yourself. The way Mr. Dame is going about it, its’s as if he’s the only one who’s talking,” she said.
The controversial Bill has seen both local and international commentators split heads over whether or not the President should assent to it.
Whilst many religious leaders and the proponents of the Bill in Parliament are pushing for it to be assented to so it becomes law, some international partners led by the Centre for Democratic Development Ghana say the Bill is retrogressive.
The US Ambassador to Ghana for instance at a recent CDD programme said, “Discrimination against minority groups causes grievances which then makes these groups vulnerable to being required by violent extremists for example, and then creates a downward spiral for security.
“Corruption also undermines the institutions that protect security and again creates a violent but often vicious downward spiral. When a democratic government fails to live up to expectations, the solution is more democracy not less.”
Currently, a member of the Minority in Parliament, Nelson-Rockson Dafeamekpor is in court asking for an expedited hearing of a case filed against the bill by Journalists and Lawyer Richard Dela Sky.