Legal Committee To Present Anti-LGBTQ Bill Report - Sam George

The Parliamentary Committee on Constitutional, Legal, and Parliamentary Affairs is expected to present its report on the anti-LGBTQ+ bill this week. This is according to Samuel Nartey George, Member of Parliament for Ningo-Prampram and a proponent of the bill, following a meeting with the Attorney General. Among other things, the Bill proposes jail term for people who engage in same sex.

If the Bill becomes law, various forms of support for the LGBTQ+ community will also be criminalized. According to Sam George, the Attorney General approves of the bill in its current form, requiring it to be laid for the second reading. When we finished the deliberations, I asked the Attorney General a question if the bill in its current form infringes on the human rights of any Ghanaian, and he was happy with the bill.

He was emphatic and stated that absolutely not. He wants me to tell the media that he supports the bill. The bill is expanding the frontiers of our legal jurisprudence. The Committee has finished deliberations, and it’s at the behest of the Chairman. So I believe that the final report of the Committee may be laid before the house rises. While data indicates that most Ghanaians are in favour of the Bill, it has faced criticism from renowned artists and academics.

It has, however, generated some widespread conversation, with many expressing varied views about some clauses in the document. But following the heated conversations amidst pressure on Parliament to pass the bill, there have been speculations that MPs who support the bill may be denied some privileges from members of the international community. Many persons and institutions have filed memoranda in support of the bill and to help fine-tune it.

A number of renowned legal, academic and civil society professionals have also filed documents challenging the legislation. In the memorandum, they contend that the Bill is an “impermissible invasion of the inviolability of human dignity. They further argued that pushing through the Bill will be to challenge Ghana’s constitution and democracy.