Mahama Must Sign LGBTQ+ Bill- Ahiagbah

The Communication Director of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), Richard Ahiagbah is demanding immediate assent to the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, or Queer (LGBTQ) bill which former President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo refused to receive and assent.

In a Facebook post reacting to President John Dramani Mahama’s recent statement on the bill which has already been passed by Parliament, Ahiagbah observed that he was deviating from his previous stance.

According to him, the President is running from the Bill he promised to sign while he was in opposition.

“H.E. John Mahama is running away from signing the LGBTQ+ Bill after promising to do so in its current form. Elections have consequences, and H.E. Mahama must not shift the goalpost. Sign the bill as you have pledged to Ghanaians.”

At a meeting with the Bishops on Tuesday, January 14, 2025, President Mahama suggested reintroducing the Bill- which was sent into Parliament as a Private Members Bill- as a government-sponsored Bill.

Additionally, he suggested a review of the curriculum in schools to advocate and imbibe in Ghanaian kids the proper human sexual rights and Ghanaian family values.

This, he argued will be more effective than the bill.

Bill
The bill among other things, institutes three to five years of imprisonment for engaging in same-sex intercourse and imprisonment for anyone who produces, procures, or distributes material deemed to be promoting LGBT+ activities.

It also seeks to institute 6 months to 1-year imprisonment for a public show of amorous relations between people of the same sex; a ban on sponsoring LGBT+ groups; a ban on adoption and fostering for LGBT+ potential parents; prohibition of same-sex marriage; and 6 months to 3 years imprisonment for anyone who harasses someone accused of being LGBT+ and others.

Source: opemsuo.com/Hajara Fuseini