One of the lead sponsors of the reintroduced Human Sexual Rights and Family Values Bill, 2025, Reverend John Ntim Fordjour, says there are no longer any legal or constitutional obstacles to prevent the bill from becoming law.
Speaking after the bill was reintroduced for its first reading in Parliament in an interview on the Channel One Newsroom on Tuesday, October 21, Rev. Fordjour expressed strong confidence that this time, the bill will not face the delays and legal challenges that hindered its progress in the previous Parliament.
He said all “grey areas” and controversial aspects of the bill have been addressed by the courts, including the Supreme Court, which he noted had ruled that no part of the proposed legislation violates Ghana’s Constitution or international treaties.
“Our optimism stems from the fact that all the grey areas, all the arguments and all the opinions that were controversial, that needed to be settled, that needed a determination to be pronounced upon, all those have gone through various courts all the way to Supreme Court.”
According to him, Ghana’s highest court has resolved all the concerns raised by critics:
“All those opinions and all those counter arguments have been settled, and the Supreme Court eventually held that no aspects of this bill or provision affront any part of the Constitution, nor does the bill infringe upon any international treaty or convention.”
He added that with those legal matters out of the way, the path is now clear for the bill to be passed without further delays:
“For that, any dissenting view that was expressed by any stakeholder has been settled and the matter has been put in perspective without any doubt at all. So it is not expected that there are some outstanding issues to be determined on it for which it should suffer the plethora of legal suits that it did from the beginning. And for that, the expectation is that the processes would rather grind fast for us to be able to pass this bill.”
The reintroduction of the bill — which criminalises same-sex relationships, LGBTQ+ advocacy, transgender healthcare, and support for LGBTQ+ groups — comes after the earlier version lapsed following the dissolution of Parliament in early 2024. That version, although passed by Parliament, did not receive presidential assent.
The 2025 bill is sponsored by ten MPs and has now gone through its first reading. Its sponsors remain hopeful it will be passed and signed into law within the current legislative session.
Read also
Anti-LGBTQ+ bill could have changed 2024 election outcome – Ntim Fordjour
