A key sponsor of the Human Sexual Rights and Family Values Bill is urging President John Dramani Mahama to issue a direct order to Parliament to expedite the bill’s passage, citing the President’s earlier intervention that halted a proposed move to remove the Special Prosecutor.
Rev. Ntim Fordjour said the President has already demonstrated that he can direct parliamentary leadership when necessary, and should do the same with the anti-LGBTQ+ bill if he considers it a priority.
“President Mahama can also issue a directive that this is a bill that is a priority indeed, if it is. So they should expedite it immediately and with urgency, pass it,” he said.
His comments reference a recent incident in which Majority Leader Dafia Mekporn and Chief Whip Mahama Yaga introduced a private member’s bill seeking the removal of the Special Prosecutor. President Mahama ordered the withdrawal of that process, and MPs complied within hours.
Fordjour believes the same level of executive urgency can be applied to the anti-LGBTQ+ bill, which he says requires no new work. “That was an old bill. We haven’t changed anything in it,” he said, arguing that Parliament has already fast-tracked 33 bills since January 2025, some passed on the same day they were introduced.
The call comes after President Mahama told civil society organisations on March 30 that while the bill is important, it is not among the government’s immediate priorities — a position reinforced by government spokesperson Kachupusu, who said the bill is “not a priority for the administration.”
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