Minister for Parliamentary Affairs and Leader of Government Business, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, has pledged the Promotion of Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values Bill, 2021 will be debated dispassionately by the House to ensure an outcome that satisfies Ghanaians.
Debate on what has come to be known as the anti-LGBTQI+ Bill, he said, is not about Majority versus Minority and that this is a matter bordering the interest of the Ghanaian population and Parliament as the House of their representatives.
He pointed out that MPs are representatives of the people and stressed the citizenry should rest assured Parliament will not turn its back on them or their interests.
Mr. Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu gave this assurance at a press briefing in Parliament on Tuesday, October 12, 2021, in response to public accusations that the Majority New Patriotic Party (NPP) members support activities of LGBTQI+ and their advocates.
Last week a leading member of the NPP, Nana Obiri Boahen, expressed surprise members of the Majority side have not joined the anti-LGBTQ+ campaign and urged the MPs to declare their support or otherwise for the bill.
No person, he said, should even encourage the Ghanaian population not to talk about the matter and stressed, “We should stop it. How do we discuss this even in the public domain.”
Addressing the issue, Majority leader Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu stated that the 1992 Constitution is emphatic in Chapter 11, Article 125 where it states, “Justice emanates from the people and shall be administered in the name of the Republic….”
According to him, the operative clause is ‘Justice emanates from the people’ because Ghanaians have their own peculiar sets of values and upbringing wherever they come from.
“Wherever we come from we have our sets of values and it is the values that guide us in life. There is a reason why the Constitution states that justice emanates from the people,” he said.
He assured that no Member of Parliament will be against the principle of the Promotion of Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values Bill, 2021 currently before the House.
He urged all stakeholders to take out emotions and sentiments from the ongoing debate else it will cloud the rationale of the issues surrounding the Bill.
The Bill has passed through the first reading and referred to the Committee on Constitutional, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs for consideration and report before debate on its principle will commence in accordance with article 106 (6) of the 1992 Constitution.
Mr. Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu urged organized groups like churches, mosques, Civil Society Organizations and individuals speaking on the matter to submit memoranda to the Committee.
According to him, Article 106 (6) of the Constitution provides for the report of the Committee together with the explanatory Memoranda to the Bill to form the basis of the debate for its passage with or without amendment or its rejection by Parliament.
“So the basis of the debate that we are going to have in Parliament is the Memoranda to the Bill and the hearings that the Committee will submit itself to, which will form the basis of the report that they will present to Plenary.”
“The report itself could be heavily influenced by the Memoranda that will go to them. That is why I am urging citizens to submit memos to the Committee working on the Bill,” he said.
The leader of Government Business debunked calls by a section of the public for debate on the Bill to be telecast live and argued the call demonstrates how oblivious people are to how affairs are conducted in parliament.
He stressed that Parliamentary proceedings are already public activity and therefore nothing is going to be hidden from Ghanaians.
Source: Mypublisher24.com/Osumanu Al-Hassan