Following the passage of the anti-LGBT+ bill on February 28, 2024, some advocates of human rights are threatening court action should the President assent to the bill becoming law.
According to the Programs Director at the Center for Democratic Development, Michael Akagbor, the bill goes against provisions of the Constitution in that the section of the citizen who belongs to the LGBT community stands to be discriminated against.
“The bill is against a lot of the provisions of the Constitution. We should all be concerned at any time, any society is fingered out to be discriminated against by the state, because in some parts of the world, when a society starts becoming authoritarian, they always go after their weakest members first.
And once it begins, there is no end to how many people might lose their rights in the process.
We are fighting against this issue, not for the present, but the lives of Ghanaians need to be protected from encroachment and abuse by either the state or society,” said Mr. Akagbor.
Mr. Akagbor mentions in an interview with Ampem Darko Obeng on Spice FM that the CDD is protecting the rights of the vulnerable from being encroached upon.
He argued that the bill, when passed into law, would not target only persons within the LGBT community but the whole population.
Mr. Akapbor says, per the provision, anyone who withholds information on someone who belongs to the LGBT community breaches the law.
“So this bill goes beyond the population we feel is targeted. The bill is just beyond the reason of logic in terms of how it’s going to be applied to the population.
The Constitution has in place mechanisms to make sure that these rights are protected, so it gives us the option,” He added.
Mr. Akapbor noted that CDD will proceed to court should the president approve the bill because it goes against the human rights of a section of Ghanaians.
