Parliament’s Committee on Constitutional, Legal, and Parliamentary Affairs has temporarily halted public hearings on the Anti-LGBTQ+ bill.
On Thursday, at the bill’s first public hearing, supporters said that it represented the majority of Ghanaians’ opinions on the topic, while opponents argued that it violates human rights and goes against Ghana’s cultural values.
The Committee is set to hear from the authors of over 150 memoranda in support of the Promotion Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values bill.
When the Committee’s first session of public hearings concluded on Thursday [November 11, 2021], Chairman Kwame Anyimadu-Antwi claimed time limitations as the cause for the sessions’ suspension.
“We haven’t finished with the public hearings. There are other memoranda that we have received but we are constrained with time and we cannot predict what time we would have to meet and continue,” he said.
Meanwhile, Ningo-Prampram MP Samuel George, who is one of the bill’s supporters, rated the first day of public hearings on the bill as favorable.
“I think it was a good day. Everyone had their say and democracy won. Ghana continues to be a beacon of the African continent. I am reliably informed that in many European countries where Private Members are laid, the public does not have the opportunity to send in memos talk of public presentation as it was done. So I think this is a feather in our cap as a people.”
Concerned Ghanaian Citizens, who appeared on day one of the public hearing, urged the committee to recommend that parliament reject the Bill.
The group’s spokesperson, Akoto Ampaw, said that the speaker of Parliament abused his authority in accepting the bill.
According to the organization, the law breaches Ghanaians’ core human rights and fosters hatred.
Additionally, on the first day of hearings, the committee heard from the Ghana Pentecostal and Charismatic Council, the Human Rights Coalition, Amnesty International, and Advocates for Christ.
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