Parliament has been advised to halt any attempts at submitting the anti-LGBTQ bill that was passed last month to the President for signing until pending legal challenges are resolved, a letter from Jubilee House has said.
Drawing on the back of advice from the Attorney-General, the letter addressed to Parliament and signed by the Secretary to the President, Nana Asante Bediatuo, said it is “improper” for the legislative body to “transmit the Bill to the President and equally improper for this Office to receive the Bill until the Supreme Court determines the matter raised in the suits.”
“The Attorney General has, by a letter dated 18th March 2024, informed the President that he has been duly served with both applications and has advised the President not to take any steps in relation to the bill until the matters raised by the suits are determined by the Supreme Court,” Bediatuo writes in the letter to Parliament.
Two individuals, gender activist Dr. Amanda Odoi and Richard Sky, a journalist at private media outlet, Citi FM, have been the only persons to file lawsuits so far, challenging the constitutionality and implications of the bill for the country.
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Ms. Odoi’s suit for instance seeks to stop Parliament from presenting the bill to the president for signing. Last year when she cited the Speaker of Parliament for Contempt and sought to halt Parliament from considering aspects of the bill that were disputed by the AG, the Supreme Court dismissed her applications.
While the President has been facing pressure from conservative groups to put his final seal of approval to the bill, it appears the situation presents a real test to Nana Akufo-Addo, who before becoming president had steered his work as a lawyer, on the promotion of civil and human rights.
