Bawku Central lawmaker Mahama Ayariga has accused President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo of consistently violating the 1992 Constitution.
He said the president violated the constitution in the way and manner he went about handling the Witchcraft bill.
“The president has consistently violated the constitution, he started with the death penalty prohibition that we passed, the witchcraft legislation that we passed. The president consistently refused to sign these bills after we had passed them and refused to comply with provisions of Article 106 of the constitution that says that if you are not signing then return it to [Parliament] and tell us why you are not signing, if you need further advice refer it to the Council of State and get their views on the matter and then if you have issues with any provision highlight those provisions, make your argument and send it to us and we as Parliament if we feel strongly about it then we should mobilize two-thirds of our numbers to pass that legislation and once we mobilize the two-thirds of our numbers pass legislation you are duty bound to sign it. Why does a president with a majority of MPs cannot engage in this simple step?” He said on the Key Points on TV3 on Saturday, March 30.
Mahama Ayariga further said that the suit that has been filed against the anti-gay bill is not restraining the president from receiving the anti-lgbtqi bill.
He said that nobody has sought to restrain the president from receiving the bill rather, the president is being prevented from signing the document.
To that end, he said, he has problems with the letter the Attorney-General wrote to the president advising against receiving and signing the bill.
“The president is not restrained by the reliefs being sought from receiving the bill, nobody has sought an order to restrain him from receiving…the only order people are seeking is to stop him from signing.
“I am shocked and scandalized by the Attorney-General in this advice,” he said on the Key Points on TV3 on Saturday, March 30.
Parliament unanimously passed the Human Sexual Rights and Family Values Bill 2024 (also known as the anti-LGBTQ+ bill) on Wednesday, February 28.
The bill, if assented to, prescribes between three and five years imprisonment to persons found guilty of willful promotion, funding, and advocating for LGBTQ+ activities prohibited under the act.
Also, persons who publicly identify themselves as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, transsexual, an ally or pansexual face between two months and three years of imprisonment.
The president later indicated his inability to assent the bill until after the Supreme Court had finished hearing the suit filed against the bill.
Later the Attorney -General in a letter dated March 18 addressed to Parliament and signed by the executive secretary to the President, Nana Bediatuo Asante, it was indicated that the Attorney-General wrote to the President stating, amongst other things, that “he has been duly served with both applications”.
He, therefore, advised the President “not to take any step in relation to the Bill until the matters raised by the suits are determined by the Supreme Court”.
The statement further requested that Parliament “cease and desist from transmitting the Bill to the President until the matters before the Supreme Court are resolved”.
“This Office is aware of two pending applications for an order of interlocutory injunction, both filed on 7th March 2024, in the Supreme Court in Dr. Amanda Odoi v. The Speaker of Parliament and The Attorney-General (J1/13/2023) and Richard Sky v. The Parliament of Ghana and The Attorney-General (11/9/2024), respectively, to restrain you and Parliament from transmitting the Bill to the President and, also, to restrain the President from signifying his assent to the Bill, pending the final determination of the matter,” the statement added.
Read the full letter below:
