Mahama Ayariga, the Majority Leader, has boldly stated that the Speaker Alban Bagbin cannot overturn Parliament’s decision to pass the Human Sexual Rights and Family Values Bill, 2025, commonly known as the anti-LGBTQ bill.
According to Mahama Ayariga, the house acted within its standing orders and rejected suggestions that the bill was improperly passed.
He noted that the Speaker’s intervention amounts only to an appeal for reconsideration as there is nothing to reconsider.
“The Speaker is only appealing. He cannot in any way reverse what has happened. What has happened has happened. We have passed many bills the same way, and indeed there was no rule that was breached at all,” Ayariga stated.
“If you check the Votes and Proceedings, you will see clearly that the procedural motion was moved and allowed by the First Deputy Speaker. We abridged time and that enabled us to take the bill through the third consideration stage. So there was absolutely no breach of procedure,” he said.
“The Honourable Ntim Fordjour could not have withdrawn the bill. He was not the only sponsor. There were several other sponsors, so whatever he threatened to do or not do had no effect whatsoever on the bill and its consideration by the House,” he added.
Also, Mahama Ayariga has stressed that his responsibility ended once Parliament approved the legislation and that decisions regarding its transmission for presidential assent.
He argued that the bill, with about 19 clauses, had already undergone extensive consideration, adding that the disagreements were limited and had largely been resolved through committee deliberations.
Mahama Ayariga added, “We worked with our colleagues on the entire bill from clause one to clause nine. There was no issue. Even where concerns were raised, the committee made recommendations, and we engaged and agreed on several of them”.
“We have kept this bill in this House for one and a half years, and now we are being asked to bring it back again and consider what exactly? I don’t know specifically what provisions need reconsideration. I have done my job. I have moved for the bill to be passed. As for whether it will be transmitted for assent or not, that is their business,” he said.
The brouhaha stems from Nana Asafo-Adjei Ayeh, the Bosome Freho MP, who argued that none of the Minority sponsors of the bill was present when Parliament completed the final stages of the legislative process.
Meanwhile, Alban Bagbin, the Speaker of Parliament, has revealed he has summoned the leadership of both the Majority and Minority caucuses over the passage of the Human Sexual Rights and Family Values Bill, commonly known as the anti-LGBTQ+ bill.
According to Speaker Bagbin, the anti-LGBTQ+ bill is critical, adding that there must be a consensus because it is not about Parliament.
Speaking to the media in a video shared on social media, Speaker Bagbin stated, “I have asked the leaders to meet me in my office. So, they will be here for us to go through it. This is such a critical bill that we believe there must be consensus because it is not about Parliament”.
“The UN Charter, the African people’s rights and what all we have to go through all. Then we have also our development partners who had a lot of contributions to make. We had the United Nations coming in with proposals, some new rules and everything,” he stated.
“We as Ghanaians also have to dig deeper into our cultures, our customs, our values before we came up with what was passed on Friday,” he added.
“And in fact, when it was passed on Friday, it was even a surprise to me because I knew that they were going to start a consideration of the bill. And that was the instructions I left before I went to attend to other activities,” he expressed.
“It was Friday, and members wanted to go home early to their constituencies when we were going to sit today, so I knew they wouldn’t have completed it. But all of a sudden, I read about this passage, and later I saw on TV all the things that happened,” Bagbin stated.
See the post below:
"There is nothing to reconsider" – Majority Leader, Mahama Ayariga rejects Speaker's appeal for parliament to recall anti-LGBTQ bill for bipartisan agreement.#JoyNews pic.twitter.com/LrvVf2eFy3
— JoyNews (@JoyNewsOnTV) June 2, 2026
