President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo was recommended to hold off on taking any action on the Human Sexual Rights and Family Values Bill by the Attorney-General and Minister for Justice, who serves as the government’s top legal advisor.
If the law is approved, anybody found guilty of encouraging, supporting, or providing funds for LGBTQ+ acts that are illegal under the legislation might face three to five years in jail.
Godfred Yeboah Dame, the Attorney General, cited two distinct challenges filed at the Supreme Court contesting the validity of the newly enacted measure by parliament in a letter dated March 18, 2024.
The A-G said that the two motions for interlocutory injunctions, among others, asked the court to prevent the president from acting on the measure until their substantive cases were resolved.
Respectfully, given the fundamental constitutional significance questions raised by the two suits and the significant public interest issues at stake, I believe it will be appropriate to give the Supreme Court the chance to decide whether or not to approve the Bill while the legal proceedings are ongoing.
“Given the circumstances, I believe that signing the Bill while the two suits’ outstanding interlocutory injunction applications are still ongoing will make those applications moot and erode the Supreme Court’s jurisdiction to decide the issues posed in them.
Additionally, those who openly identify as pansexual, ally, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or transsexual risk serving two to three years in prison.
