Ghana Supreme Court defends its slow pace on anti-LGBTQ bill
Ghana’s president won’t act on anti-LGBTQ bill until Supreme Court makes a ruling.
Ghana’s Supreme Court is under fire from anti-LGBTQ legislators for not issuing a ruling on a harsh anti-LGBTQ bill that Parliament passed in February. But the court said last month that it cannot act until it receives filings from all the interested parties.
Until the Supreme Court rules, President Nana Akufo-Addo says he will not act on the bill, which needs his signature in order to become law.
If enacted, the bill would expand on Ghana’s current law that provides a three-year prison sentence for same-sex intimacy. The new bill would add the same punishment for people who:
- Identify as (“hold out as”) LGBTQ;
- Participate in gender-reassignment surgery; or
- Enter into a same-sex marriage or attend a same-sex wedding.
It would also impose prison sentences of up to 10 years on people who “promote” LGBTQ activity.
Publisher Online reported on the situation last month:
Chief Justice Not Delaying LGBT Cases …Parliament, Attorney General Yet To File Defense For Case To Continue
By Halifax Ansah-Addo
The Supreme Court of Ghana is unable to set a date to continue hearing of petitions filed against the passage of the Promotion of Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values Bill also known as the anti-LGBT Bill until all parties have completed filing of the individual or joint Memorandum of Issues, a statement from the Judicial Service has explained.
The statement explained that “as at 31 July 2024, when the Supreme Court went on recess, neither Parliament (1st Defendant), nor the Attorney General (2nd Defendant) had filed a defense to the Plaintiff’s action in the form of their Statements of Case. The three parties can only file the Memorandum of Issues for the trial when the Statements of Case are in place. Until then, the Supreme Court cannot hear the case.”
The Judicial Service’s statement to clarify the status of the case became necessary after Member of Parliament for Ningo-Prampram publicly accused the Chief Justice, Her Ladyship, Justice Gertrude Araba Esaaba Sackey Torkornoo of deliberately delaying the case. He went ahead to describe her in other ways not worth repeating in cold print.
