Minority Chief Whip, Mohammed-Mubarak Muntaka has said that his caucus will not tolerate attempts by some persons in Ghana to delay the passage of the Promotion of Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values Bill (Anti-LGBT bill).
Speaking on the floor of Parliament on Wednesday, June 8, 2022, Muntaka alleged that the bill has been unduly delayed because some persons are holding it up at the committee level.
According to him, the minority caucus of Parliament will throw out any other bill the government introduces if the Anti-LGBT bill is not passed.
“… so far as this Constitution is concerned when we introduce a bill in this house and it is before the committee that committee must not spend more than three months without coming to tell us reasons why it has to go beyond the three months.
“…Since this is a matter that the Chair of the Constitutional and Legal Affairs wants to use to delay that bill, that bill was in this house before several other bills, I can assure you that any other bill introduced in this house, we shall resist it. Even if it is to provide water in Asawase we will resist it.
“We will make sure that that bill, as long as it stays there no other bill passes through this house,” Muntaka, who is also the Member of Parliament for Asawase, said.
On November 11, 2021, parliament’s Constitutional, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Committee began a public hearing on a Private Members’ Bill that would make it illegal to be gay or to advocate for gay rights.
The Promotion of Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values Bill, 2021, which aims to provide for proper human sexual rights and Ghanaian family values, seeks to restrict LGBTQ+ communities and any activities related to them.
If passed, it will also criminalise the promotion and funding of LGBTQ+ activities as well as public displays of affection, cross-dressing and more, while campaigning for LGBTQ+ persons on social media or online platforms is also prohibited under the Bill.
