Winner of Ghana’s presidential election will scrutinize anti-LGBTQ bill, might sign it
John Mahama says he will sign the bill — depending on what it contains.
John Mahama, former president of Ghana and the apparent victor in today’s presidential election, has said he will scrutinize the harsh anti-LGBTQ+ bill that Parliament passed in February before deciding whether to sign it.
As GhanaWeb reported on Mahama’s interview with the BBC shortly before the election:
The Presidential Candidate of the National Democratic Congress, John Dramani Mahama, has stated his position on the controversial anti-LGBTQ+ Bill, which is currently under debate due to some portions of the document.”
Speaking in an interview with international media, BBC, Mahama stated that a future NDC government would sign the anti-LGBTQ+ bill depending on its contents and the specifics of what it entails.
According to him, although LGBTQ+ activities do not align with the country’s culture, values, and religious beliefs, there must be thorough scrutiny of what the bill proposes and aims to enforce before it is signed into law.
He proposed that if, after scrutiny, he finds anything wrong with the bill, it must be sent back to Parliament for reassessment.
“It is not an anti-LGBTQ+ Bill, but a Family Values Bill. It was approved unanimously by our Parliament. You see, it’s against our culture, I mean African culture, our religious faith – Muslim and Christian and all that.
“But I think we must look at the bill, and the president must indicate what he finds wrong with the bill and send the bill back to Parliament or alternatively, he must send it to the Council of State and get the Council of State’s advice,” he stated. …
Although the former president did not categorically state if he will sign the bill or not, he gave the condition that he will sign the bill depending on what it entails.
“It depends on what is in the bill,” he added.
As Erasing 76 Crimes has previously reported:
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.
