Former President John Dramani Mahama has said that President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has indicated to the Parliament of Ghana that he would not assent to the Promotion of Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values Bill 2021 (anti-LGBT bill) even if the house approves it.
According to Mahama, the government has an issue with the anti-LGBT bill, which is currently at the consideration stage in the house, being passed at a cost to it because it is a private members bill.
“The bill in parliament has not been approved yet but it seems the government has indicated that even if it is passed the president would not assent to it.
“… what the attorney general is saying is that you can pass a bill by a private member motion but it must not bring a cost to the government. So, based on that technicality, the president has signalled that if the bill comes to him, he would not sign it,” Mahama, the flagbearer of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) said at an engagement with religious leaders on January 31, 2024.
The former president urged the executive and the legislature to resolve the impasse on the bail so that it can be passed.
“So, I think parliament and the executive should discuss this. They should go through the bill and look at the places it puts a charge on the government so they can take that part out of the bill out for it to make a way for the president to be happy to sign it.”
Mahama also declared his stance on the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) community, asserting that as a devoted Christian and a member of the Assemblies of God, he opposes any form of LGBTQ practices.
John Mahama emphasised that, in his belief, God had a purposeful design when creating human beings.
“I am an Assemblies of God member; the faith I have does not allow a man to marry a man and a woman to marry a woman,” he said.
Watch the former president’s remarks below:
