President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, in abiding by the rules of the court is not supposed to accept the anti-gay bill until after the Supreme Court hearing on the suits filed against the bill have been concluded, Professor Kwadwo Appiagyei-Atua, a law lecturer at the University of Ghana, has said.
He says the president will act after the apex court has determined the matter.
“When an application for an injunction is issued against a party to a suit we have to wait for the court to determine whether the injunction should hold or not before any action can be taken,” adding, “so it is incumbent on the Clerk of Parliament not to take any action until the court has determined the matter
“Whether the injunction is thrown away or upheld, if it is upheld [thrown away] then what it means is that it paves the way for the Clerk of Parliament to submit the bill to the President and the President will be compelled and obliged by the constitution as well as the rules of court to accept that,” he said on the Ghana Tonight showonTV3 Tuesday, March 19.
Regarding the letter the Secretary to the President Nana Bediatuo Asante wrote to Parliament asking the clerk not to remit the bill to the president,, Prof Appiagyei said “Whether the letter was issued or not, the President in abiding by the rules of court is not supposed to accept the bill in the first place because there is an application for injunction against the Clerk of Parliament from delivering the bill to the President to sign.”
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 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:
