A concerned citizen is challenging constitutionality of Anti-LGBTQ+ Bill- President Akufo-Addo reveals

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has disclosed that a concerned citizen is challenging the constitutionality of the Anti-LGBTQ+ Bill which was recently passed by parliament.

He made this revelation when he addressed the Diplomatic New Year Greetings ceremony with the Diplomatic Corps in Accra yesterday.

He said, “I am aware that last week’s bi-partisan passage by Parliament of the Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values Bill on a Private Member’s motion, has raised considerable anxieties in certain quarters of the diplomatic community and amongst some friends of Ghana that she may be turning her back on her, hitherto, enviable, long-standing record on human rights observance and attachment to the rule of law.”

Against this backdrop, he assured them that no such back-sliding would be contemplated or occasioned.

“I think it will serve little purpose to go, at this stage, into the details of the origin of this proposed law, which is yet to reach my desk,” he revealed.

President Akufo-Addo further noted, “But, suffice it to say, that I have learnt that, today, a challenge has been mounted at the Supreme Court by a concerned citizen to the constitutionality of the proposed legislation.”

He added that in the circumstances, it would be proper for all and sundry to hold hands and await the decision of the Supreme Court before any action is taken.

He concluded by saying, “The operation of the institutions of the Ghanaian state will determine the future trajectory of the rule of law and human rights compliance in our country.”

By Edem Mensah-Tsotorme