The National Communications Officer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Sammy Gyamfi, has said President Akufo-Addo’s announcement that he’s is awaiting the verdict of the Supreme Court on the Human Sexual Rights and Family Values Bill before he decides whether or not to assent, was merely an escape route.
On March 4, President Akufo-Addo reassured the international community of Ghana’s commitment to upholding human rights despite the recent passage of the bill popularly known as the anti-LGBTQ+ Bill.
Speaking at a diplomatic engagement, the President emphasised that Ghana remains steadfast in its long-standing reputation for respecting human rights and adherence to the rule of law.
He clarified that the Bill is facing a legal challenge at the Supreme Court and that until a decision is arrived at, no action would be taken by his government on the private Member’s bill.
But Sammy Gyamfi believes that the President made these comments because he did not want to assent to the bill.
Speaking on Joy News’ The Pulse a day after, he argued that at the time the head of State gave these assurances, no one had filed an injunction against the bill.
“First of all, President Akufo-Addo is telling you that he is not going to assent the bill. He told you that yesterday and he told you that the reason why he is not going to assent to the bill is because of a legal action that has been filed yesterday which we now know to be false, and that clearly shows that the President is just not interested in the enactment of the law. That is number one,” he said.
The NDC Communications Officer clarified that assuming the President was right about the legal action, it was not a good reason enough for him to delay the signing of the bill.
“Number two, the mere filing of an action in a Supreme Court does not operate as an injunction against a person on whom a constitutional duty is conferred. A constitutional duty is conferred on the President to assent or otherwise to a bill passed by Parliament that is presented to him.
“No court in Ghana has injuncted President Akufo-Addo from doing so. As of yesterday no court in Ghana had injuncted him and in fact, there was no action before any court seeking to injunct him. It is only today an action has been filed in the court seeking to injunct him.
“That legal action, that suit in and of itself does not constitute an injunction and so the President is trying to find convenient excuses to allow him to refuse to assent to the bill. That is it because there is no legal justification, a legal injunction that prevents him from assenting to the bill,” he said.
Furthermore, he argued that neither the President nor the Vice President has taken a stance on the matter from the outset. Therefore, he insists that President Akufo-Addo’s decision was simply because he is uninterested in the matter.
“He is just not interested in doing so and he is not alone in that. The Vice President Alhaji Bawumia is neck-deep in this and that is why all along he has never commented on this LGBTQ matter. We don’t know his position as to whether or not he supports it because we believe he is a beneficiary of financing from the gay community and so he is afraid to make his position known on the matter,” he stated.
On Tuesday, March 5, a journalist cum lawyer, Richard Dela Sky filed a lawsuit against Parliament at the Supreme Court regarding the passage of the Anti-LGBTQ+ bill.
The reliefs sought by the journalist include an order restraining President Akufo-Addo from assenting to the bill and also preventing the “Speaker of Parliament and the Clerk to Parliament from presenting ‘The Human and Sexual Values Bill, 2024’ to the President of the Republic for his assent.”
Checks by Joy News indicate that there’s already a lawsuit against the anti-LGBTQ bill (Amanda Odoi vs. Speaker & Attorney General) pending at the Supreme Court since June 2023, and now awaiting adjudication on the merits.
The court, which heard the application for an interlocutory injunction asked the plaintiff to wait for the legislative process to conclude.
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