President John Dramani Mahama has said the newly passed Human Sexual Rights and Family Values Bill, 2025, widely called the anti-LGBTQ+ Bill, still has significant hurdles before it can be enacted.
Speaking during a Q&A session at Chatham House in the UK on Monday June 1, President Mahama noted that several procedural and legal matters tied to the bill must be resolved before any move on presidential approval.
The President observed that the law has drawn major public focus due to its impact on family values and social policy in Ghana.
“The Human Sexual Rights and Family Values Bill has probably been the bill that has evoked the most interest in Ghana. It shows how important issues of family values are,” he said.
He said doubts have already surfaced about how Parliament passed the bill.He pointed to concerns over whether a quorum existed during its approval, plus claims of procedural flaws in the legislative process.
“There have been a few issues raised. One, that there wasn’t quorum when it was passed. That’s an issue that has come up, and then two, there were some procedural lapses in terms of its passage,” he stated.
President Mahama disclosed that he had been informed the Speaker of Parliament was dealing with concerns raised about how the bill was approved. He explained that once the bill reaches the Presidency, it will face a detailed legal review before any decision is made. The President said the Attorney General and legal team at the Presidency would examine the law because it began as a private member’s bill, not a government-backed one. “It must come for assent and so once the president gets it, you go through it because you are not part of the discussion in Parliament.
The legal counsel in the Presidency and the Attorney General would sit on it and make sure that everything is in order before the president is advised to assent,” he said.Mahama also laid out other constitutional routes open to the President, including sending the bill to the Council of State for guidance if issues come up.
He added that if major problems are found, the President could send the bill back to Parliament and outline the specific issues to be fixed. “The president has another option. If there are some things that he thinks are a problem, he can refer it to the Council of State for advice.
If substantial issues are raised, the president would return the bill to Parliament indicating exactly what the issues are,” he said.He closed by stressing the legislative journey is not finished.“So there’s still quite a while to go before that bill becomes law,” he added.
The remarks follow Parliament’s passage of the Human Sexual Rights and Family Values Bill, 2025, after changes to the text.
Meanwhile, Speaker of Parliament Alban Bagbin has called the House leadership over the bill’s approval, insisting that broad agreement must be reached to secure wider public backing.Bagbin also expressed surprise at how the bill was passed on Friday, amid concerns from some MPs about procedural gaps in the approval process.
