Legal practitioner Stephen Kingsley Bernieh has described President Akufo-Addo’s actions regarding the LGBTQ+ bill as unconstitutional and should be condemned.
Speaking on Plan BFM, lawyer Bernieh explained that the president must notify the speaker of Parliament within 7 days if he does not want to assent to the bill, and within 14 days of notifying the speaker of the reasons why he is refusing to assent to the bill, after which he can seek advice from the state counsel if he has concerns about any of the bills.
“The president is playing delay tactics to assent to the bill, he tells us the reasons why he has not assent to the bill, this is a disgrace on the side of the president as a lawyer behaving this way and we will not sit down for the old people to destroy the country for us” he fumed.
Meanwhile, Parliament has formally requested that the Office of the President provide a specific date for the transmission of the Human Sexual and Family Values Bill for presidential assent.
This move comes after Nana Bediatuo Asante, the secretary to President Akufo-Addo, asked Parliament on March 18, to refrain from presenting the bill, also known as the anti-LGBT+ bill, to the President.
The request, according to him, was made pending the resolution of related matters currently before the Supreme Court.
The Clerk to Parliament, Cyril K. O. Nsiah, in a letter dated April 10, 2024, acknowledged the President’s office’s request to halt the bill’s progression.
However, the clerk asked the office of the president to choose a day parliament could present the bill to the President for his consideration.
Accordingly, I await an indication in writing from your office on when to present the Human Sexual and Family Value Bill, 2024 to His Excellency the President for his consideration, according to Article 106(7) of the Constitution, 1992” the letter read.
