Anti-gay bill: Bediatuo’s letter to parliament means nothing and must be ignored by the clerk – Haruna

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Tamale South lawmaker, Haruna Iddrisu, has asked the clerk of Parliament to ignore the letter that the Secretary to President Nana Bediatuo Asante wrote to the legislature on the anti-gay bill.

Mr Iddrisu described the letter as a threat to Ghana’s democracy. He says it only reflects President Akufo-Addo’s quest for predominance over other organs of state, an action he said was unacceptable

He called on the public and all other stakeholders to rally to prevent the president from overstepping his mandate.

“I am unable to sleep because this is a monumental threat to Ghana’s democracy and a monumental threat to Parliament as an institution. By Article 93, we are clothed with legislative authority and legislative mandate. This letter only reflects President Akufo-Addo’s quest for predominance over other organs of state and that is unacceptable and that must be fought by all persons who love democracy and who cherish the principles and values of the 1992 Constitution.

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“The framers of our Constitution endowed Ghana with a separation of powers, the executive, the legislature, the judiciary, and a division of powers. It endowed us that Parliament shall be responsible for making laws and what powers does the president’s secretary have in writing to the Clerk of Parliament and not the president himself in writing directly to the Speaker of Parliament as is required by our standing order so that officially this can be read as communication from the president? So ideally, this paper means nothing and must be ignored by the clerk,” he told journalists in Parliament on Tuesday, March 19.

Anti-gay bill: Mahama fires Bediatuo Asante over ‘disrespectful’ letter to Parliament

Parliament unanimously passed the Human Sexual Rights and Family Values Bill 2024 (also known as the anti-LGBTQ+ bill) on Wednesday, February 28.

The bill, if assented to, prescribes between three and five years imprisonment to persons found guilty of willful promotion, funding, and advocating for LGBTQ+ activities prohibited under the act.

Also, persons who publicly identify themselves as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, transsexual, an ally or pansexual face between two months and three years of imprisonment.

The president later indicated his inability to the bill until after the Supreme Court had finished hearing the suit filed against the bill.

Later the Attorney -General in a letter dated March 18 addressed to Parliament and signed by the executive secretary to the President, Nana Bediatuo Asante, it was indicated that the Attorney-General wrote to the President stating, amongst other things, that “he has been duly served with both applications”.

He, therefore, advised the President “not to take any step in relation to the Bill until the matters raised by the suits are determined by the Supreme Court”.

The statement further requested that Parliament “cease and desist from transmitting the Bill to the President until the matters before the Supreme Court are resolved”.

“This Office is aware of two pending applications for an order of interlocutory injunction, both filed on 7th March 2024, in the Supreme Court in Dr. Amanda Odoi v. The Speaker of Parliament and The Attorney-General (J1/13/2023) and Richard Sky v. The Parliament of Ghana and The Attorney-General (11/9/2024), respectively, to restrain you and Parliament from transmitting the Bill to the President and, also, to restrain the President from signifying his assent to the Bill, pending the final determination of the matter,” the statement added.