The Speaker of Parliament Right Honourable Alban Kingsford Sumana Babgin has urged the legislature to allow whether religious bodies civil society, academia, and others to participate in the deliberations Bill on the Promotion of Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values, 2021, also known as the Anti-LGBTQ+ Bill
He noted that Ghanaians are expectant, and knows Parliament has over 100 petitions before the legal affairs committee.
Welcoming the legislators back from recess on Tuesday, the Speaker, in apparent support to criminalize LGBTQ activities, noted that Ghana’s values, cultural systems, and accepted practices were different from countries where the LGBTQ were being pursued.
“The sitting of the committee will be public, and the decision of this House will be public, we will want to know where each Member of Parliament stands,” the Speaker added.
The speaker said “Let us be accommodating of others’ opinions and perceptions because that is the reality,” Speaker Bagbin said and gave an assurance that “Parliament would create the appropriate environment for healthy public participation in the deliberation of the draft law.
“I am persuaded that this Parliament will pass a law that is in sync with our constitutional provisions, particularly the provisions of fundamental human rights and freedoms, and the various laws that already exist in this country. “I am persuaded that we will pass a law that is rich in common sense, human decency, morality, fact, logic, and one that does not foment hatred in any shape or form.”
Source: Mybrytfmonline.com/Kofi Atakora
