The Constitutional and Legal Affairs Committee is holding clause-by-clause consideration of the Human Sexual Rights and Family Values Bill, also known as the anti-LGBTQ Bill.
The public hearing which commenced on Thursday, April 23, 2026 will continue on Friday, April 24 and is expected to provide avenue for the re-introduced legislation to be scruitnised for key inputs from stakeholders before Parliament resumes processes for its passage.
It comes few weeks after the Minority accused government of bowing to donor and international pressure to frustrate the Bill’s passage, arguing that the strong campaign made by NDC in opposition has silently evaporated.
This caused the Speaker, Alban Bagbin, to make a fresh public declaration that the controversial Bill will be passed once the House resumes sitting in May.
Speaking at the stakeholder engagement, Chairman of Parliament’s Constitutional and Legal Affairs Committee, Shaibu Mahama said the engagement is a “blessing in disguise” which presents the 9th Parliament with an opportunity to review the bill’s provisions and ensure that the rights of individuals are protected.
He made the statement in his opening remarks at a stakeholder engagement on the anti-LGBTQ bill.
“This bill was introduced sometime back. With the passage of time, many other things would have happened, many events would have changed stuff. For us it is a blessing in disguise.
“So, if there were some clauses that were missed out in considering the last sitting of Parliament before Parliament elapses, we have the opportunity of incorporating, debating, amending or reshaping the bill,” he noted.
Meanwhile, John Ntim Fordjour, a proponent of the Human Sexual Rights and Family Values Bill argued that the bill should be expedited as there are no more concerns to be inputted from stakeholders and CSOs.
He noted that the earlier passage of the bill had already considered concerns and inputs from stakeholders, hence the bill must not be subjected to fresh national dialogues.
“I do not think that this Bill must be subjected to fresh national dialogues. In fact, all the CSOs and all the concerns, most of them have gone through are the same concerns that came up in the first cycle of this bill. All the CSOs who have come today are the same CSOs and stakeholders who participated. There’s really nothing broken in this bill to be fixed.
“And for which it should be expedited. In expediting, we are not also indicating that certain shortcut should be entertained. We can expedite this bill in a day without compromising any part of our procedures so along as our standing orders are concerned and our constitution is concerned,” he stated.
