Attorney-General supports anti- LGTQT bill before parliament - Sam George

Member of Parliament for Ningo-Prampram and sponsor of the Promotion of Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values Bill, 2021, popularly called the "Anti-LGBTQ+" Sam Nartey George, has revealed that the Attorney General, Godfred Dame, supports the current shape of the LGBTQ+ bill.

According to him, the Attorney-General indicated that he did not see any conflict between the bill and the Constitution in its current form as it does not infringe on human rights.

Speaking in an interview, he said:

"... So if the Attorney General raised an issue of human rights for people who have a biological anomaly, the committee's work had already taken care of it. By and large, we finished the meeting in very good time—like I said, in a little over 90 minutes—and there was consensus and agreement among all of us.

"We asked him a specific question, which he answered, and I asked for his permission if I could even put that out. And he gave. I asked him specifically if he thought that the current shape of the bill that the committee had worked on, that the membership, the sponsors also felt comfortable represented our aspirations, if you thought that it infringed on any fundamental human rights in Ghana, and the Attorney General responded that he did not see any conflict between our bill and the Constitution in its current form; he did not see any infringement on human rights; and that he actually supports the bill. As it stands. The Attorney General established four areas where he thought that our bill was a welcome refreshing news to Ghana's criminal jurisprudence," Sam George added.

Sam George added that the bill will be presented before the House in March 2023.

This comes after the bill's committee met with the Attorney General on Wednesday, February 22, 2023, and he indicated that he was fine with the bill.

"I can see that we now have a light at the end of the tunnel. We have reached the end of the tunnel. And we'll be bringing that report hopefully before the end of March or before this house rises and laying it before the house for debates on the floor. And so watch this space. We are in a good place. And we'll be looking forward to you giving us all the support to pass this landmark bill, which will be the first of its kind. Yesterday the Attorney General made that point the first of its kind on African continent. Nigeria has a bill banning same sex marriages. That's all. It doesn't have all the other things our bill has. And so we're excited about this," Sam George added.

YNA/WA