The High Court in Accra has denied a suit to compel President Akufo-Addo to accept the transmission of the anti-LGBTQ bill passed by Parliament.
This is in reference to a judicial review application filed by South Dayi MP Nelson Rockson Dafeamekpor. The legislator tried to utilise its mandamus powers to force parliament to send the measure and the president to accept it for consideration.
In his affidavit in opposition to the motion, the Attorney General requested that the court dismiss the case since a favourable finding would imply the High Court would be exceeding its jurisdiction.
In her ruling, Justice Ellen Lordina Serwaa Mireku stressed that the ongoing cases at the Supreme Court made the immediate motion improper to be granted.
Mr. Dafeamekpor filed a writ on March 25 seeking various declarations and orders challenging the President’s powers under Ghana’s 1992 Constitution.
The NDC MP, among other things, requested a statement that, under Articles 106(1) and (7) of the Constitution, a President may only accede to or refuse to assent to a measure within seven days, unless the bill has been referred to the Council of State.
He also wanted a declaration that the President cannot stop Parliament from forwarding a law that has been passed to him.
Again, the MP sought a declaration that a letter dated March 18, 2024, issued to the Clerk of Parliament and signed by the President’s Secretary, Nana Bediatuo Asante, violated the Constitution and that the President should retract the letter.
On Wednesday, February 28, Parliament enacted the Bill for Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values.
Among other things, the law punishes people who engage in LGBTQ sexual behaviour, as well as those who advocate for the rights of gay, lesbian, or other non-conventional sexual or gender identities, with imprisonment.
Meanwhile, Nii Kpakpo Somoa Addo, the lawyer representing Rockson-Nelson Dafeamekpor, has issued notice to appeal the verdict.
