Majority Leader, Mahama Ayariga, has insisted that Parliament lawfully passed the Human Sexual Rights and Family Values Bill, 2025, stating that Speaker Alban Bagbin has no authority to overturn the decision already taken by the House.
His comments follow Speaker Bagbin’s appeal for Parliament to reconsider the controversial anti-LGBTQ bill after concerns emerged over the manner in which the legislation was passed on Friday, May 29. The Speaker had earlier indicated that he expected deliberations on the bill to continue and was surprised to discover that all stages of the legislative process had already been completed.
Speaking on Citi FM on Tuesday, June 2, Ayariga dismissed claims that the bill was rushed through Parliament in violation of procedure. According to him, the House acted fully within its standing orders and followed the same legislative process used in passing several other bills.
“The Speaker is only appealing. He cannot in any way reverse what has happened. What has happened has happened. We have passed many bills the same way, and indeed there was no rule that was breached at all,” Ayariga stated.
He explained that concerns regarding the requirement for a 24-hour waiting period before moving a bill to the next stage had been addressed through a procedural motion to abridge time.
According to him, the motion was moved and approved by the First Deputy Speaker, allowing Parliament to proceed with the third consideration stage of the bill without breaching any rules.
“If you check the Votes and Proceedings, you will see clearly that the procedural motion was moved and allowed by the First Deputy Speaker. We abridged time and that enabled us to take the bill through the third consideration stage. So there was absolutely no breach of procedure,” he said.
Ayariga also rejected suggestions that the bill could have been withdrawn by one of its sponsors, Assin South MP Rev. John Ntim Fordjour.
He argued that the legislation had multiple sponsors and that the withdrawal or absence of a single sponsor would not have affected parliamentary consideration of the bill.
“The Honourable Ntim Fordjour could not have withdrawn the bill. He was not the only sponsor. There were several other sponsors, so whatever he threatened to do or not do had no effect whatsoever on the bill and its consideration by the House,” he added.
The controversy surrounding the bill intensified after Bosome Freho MP Nana Asafo-Adjei Ayeh reportedly raised concerns that none of the Minority sponsors of the legislation was present in the chamber when Parliament concluded the final stages of the process.
The Human Sexual Rights and Family Values Bill remains one of the most contentious pieces of legislation before Parliament, continuing to generate political, legal and public debate across the country.
