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Rev Ntim Fordjour, one of the lead sponsors of the reintroduced Human Sexual Rights and Family Values Bill (Anti-LBGTQ+ Bill), has attributed the New Patriotic Party (NPP) defeat in the 2024 election to former President Akufo-Addo’s failure to sign the bill.
According to Rev Ntim Fordjour, the 2024 elections might have been different if legal and procedural obstacles had not prevented Akufo-Addo from assenting to the anti-LBGTQ+ legislation.
Speaking to Citi News, Rev Ntim Fordjour stated, “If [former] President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo had been able to sign this bill, it would have served this nation a lot better, and it would have even enhanced the image of my party. And I dare say that the outcome of the election in 2024 would have been different.
“It would have been different; the outcome would have been different. I have said it way before we voted, after we voted, before handing over, and so my position has been consistent and my position has not changed,” he stated.
The Anti-LBGTQ bill under the former Akufo-Addo government faced several lawsuits filed against the bill, leading to a delay in its signing.
Eventually, the bill, which became a burden for the previous government, remained just a bill and was not passed into law before Akufo-Addo left power.
The bill sought to criminalise Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBTQ+) activities in Ghana, was passed by the 8th Parliament, but remained unsigned before the 8th Parliament was dissolved.
Meanwhile, the member for Ningo Prampram, Sam Nartey George, member of parliament for Assin South, Ntim Fordjour and 8 other MPs have reintroduced the Anti-LBGTQ bill in Parliament for its first reading.
The Anti-LBGTQ bill seeks to define, protect and regulate human sexual rights while reinforcing traditional family values within Ghana.
Sources revealed that the proposed legislation aims to create a balanced legal framework that safeguards individual rights on sexuality, privacy and dignity.
It also promotes the preservation of family structures rooted in Ghana’s culture and traditions.
Meanwhile, conversations and discussions about the controversial anti-LBGTQ bill have resurfaced under the John Mahama government.
In December 2024, during an interview with the BBC, Mahama, the NDC government, would sign the anti-LBGTQ+ bill.
He stated, “It is not an anti-LBGTQ+ Bill, but a Family Values Bill. It was approved unanimously by our Parliament. You see, it’s against our culture, I mean African culture, our religious faith – Muslim and Christian and all that.
But I think we must look at the bill, and the president must indicate what he finds wrong with the bill and send the bill back to Parliament or alternatively, he must send it to the Council of State and get the Council of State’s advice”.
After assuming power, addressing a delegation of Catholic bishops from the Ghana Catholic Bishops’ Conference, John Dramani Mahama suggested a government-sponsored LGBTQ+ bill, as opposed to one led by private members.
John Mahama stated, “I think it should not be a Private Member’s Bill, but a government-sponsored one. If we were teaching our values in schools, we wouldn’t need to pass a bill to enforce our family values, and that is why I think more than even the family values bill, is us agreeing on a curriculum that inculcates these values into our children as they are growing up, so that we don’t need to legislate it.
“I don’t know what the promoters of the bill intend to do, but I think we should have a conversation on it again so that all of us, if we decide to move on the way forward, we move forward with a consensus,” he said.
Mahama further highlighted the challenges encountered by the initial anti-LBGTQ+ bill,
He stated, “But as far as I know, the bill did not get to the president. And so, the convention is that all bills that are not assented to before the expiration of the life of Parliaments expire. And so, that bill effectively is dead, it has expired”.