Waala Youth Chiefs in Accra have declared their unflinching support for Speaker Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin as part of efforts to ensure that the “Human Sexual Rights and Family Values Bill 2021“, is assented into law.
The Bill, which seeks to criminalise the activities of persons and groups engaged in acts of LGBTQI in Ghana, was passed unanimously by Parliament on 28th February, and waiting to be assented by the President to make it law.
Chief Awudu Ishaq, Waala Youth Chief of Fadama, speaking to the press in Accra, noted that the Waala Youth Chiefs of Accra, had been compelled by recent happenings within the nation’s governance space to call the press conference in a bid to contribute their quota in safeguarding Ghana’s democracy.
He said Ghanaians were aware that the Speaker had been engaged in a banter with the President on the matter of the Human Sexual Rights and Family Values Bill, 2021, passed unanimously by the Parliament of Ghana on 28th February, and waiting assent by the President to make it law.
He said though a Private Member’s Bill, it received unanimous support save some concerns raised by a few Members of Parliament but who consented to the import and provisions of the Bill.
“Outside the precincts of Parliament, the ordinary and average Ghanaian supported and pushed for the swift passage of the Bill into law in order to protect the Human Rights and Family Values accustomed to the Ghanaian society including all of us here,” Chief Awudu Ishaq stated.
He expressed concern about the tone of the letter written by the Executive Secretary to the President, to the Clerk to Parliament, that the Clerk ought to “cease and desist” from attempting to transmit the “Human Sexual Values Bill, 2021” to the President for necessary action in accordance with the Constitution.
He said more worrying was the fact that the letter misrepresented the advice given by the Attorney General to the President regarding the pendency of a suit for interlocutory injunction seeking to restrain the President from assenting to the Bill.
“While the Attorney-General’s advice implored the President not to assent to the Bill until the said injunction application is dealt with, the Executive Secretary’s letter dwelled emphatically on the decision by the President not to receive the Bill at all,” Chief Awudu Ishaq said.
“We all know that it is one thing receiving the Bill and another thing asserting to it. This is the reason for which Article 106 (8) (a) and (b) find expression in the Constitution of our dear Republic.”
He said one would have expected that those who had filed injunctions on the Bill, would have hastened slowly and waited for the Bill to be assented into law by the President before they go to the Supreme Court to challenge the constitutionality of the law, or any provisions of the law considered inconsistent with the Constitution.
“Our legal regime is replete with countless decisions by the Supreme Court as far as interpretations of the constitutional inconsistency of some laws are concerned,” he said.
Chief Awudu Ishaq said Speaker Bagbin had shown tremendous resolve in seeing this Bill passed to serve its purpose; adding that as a statesman who had paid his dues to his Motherland, Speaker Bagbin had remained unmoved and unshaken in maintaining and protecting the sanctity of the Parliament of Ghana.
He said in the wake of all the frustrations towards the Bill for the past three years, the Speaker had prioritized its passage and steered the House to finally pass the Bill on 28th February.
He said it was public record that the Speaker in his private and public engagement as well his official and unofficial interactions never shied away from stating his unequivocal support for the passage of the Bill to regulate and criminalise the activities of LGBTQI+ in Ghana.
“Not many a people in his position would dare speak openly and loudly about this vexed issue of LGBTQI in the wake of the spirited support for the devilish behaviour from its practitioners, advocates and promoters.”
He said with the kind of interest shown by powerful Western Powers in supporting the liberalisation and protection of LGBTQI activities across the globe, such bravery and boldness could only come from a man who was fearless and unwavering in his resolve to leave a lasting and impactful legacy in the annals of Ghana’s history.
“Fellow Citizens, through this press conference, we seize the opportunity to pat Right Honourable Alban Bagbin on the back for standing up to the antics of the president in his brazen attempts to subvert the will of the people of Ghana,” he said.
“We stand with Mr Speaker on the decision to suspend the consideration and approval of ministerial nominees by President Akufo-Addo in similar fashion to the reason given for his own decision to refuse not only in asserting to the Bill but also in receiving the Bill. This amounts to giving President Akufo-Addo a dose of his own medicine.”
He implored the good people of Ghana to rally round and support the revered the Speaker in navigating Parliament to get the Bill assented to into law.
He said the importance of this law in the protection, maintenance, and promotion of human and sexual values in Ghana could not be lost on Ghanaians.
He said Ghanaians must individually and collectively show their support for the Bill and publicly make known our abhorrence to the conduct of the President in the delay tactics he is playing with the Bill.
“We want to reiterate that if it means mobilising other progressive forces and like minds to protest and campaign for this Bill to be assented to, we shall do so without blinking an eye because this Bill is at the core of the Ghanaian family system.”
He called on the Office of the National Chief Imam, the Catholic Bishops Conference, the Christian Council of Ghana, the Ahmadiyya Muslim Mission, the Charismatic and Pentecostal Council and the Alhassuna Wal Jamaa to lend their support to the Speaker and by extension the Parliament to follow through the resolve of compelling President Akufo-Addo to execute his constitutional mandate of assenting to the Bill in the supreme interest of their dear Motherland.
Chief Mahamuda Hamidu, Waala Youth Chief of Greater Accra, appealed to the President to assent to the anti-LGBTQ Bill as part of efforts to protect Ghanaian family values.
GNA
BM/LAA
26 March 2024
Caption:
- Chief Awudu Ishaq addressing the press
- A cross-section of dignitaries at the event
