Ghana’s Supreme Court on Wednesday dismissed two separate cases challenging the legality of anti-LGBTQ legislation, clearing the way for the president to enact it into law.
Lawmakers approved the Sexual Rights and Family Values Bill in February, drawing international condemnation despite gaining wide public support in the conservative West African country.
The parliament unanimously approved the bill in February, drawing international condemnation despite gaining wide public support in the conservative West African country.
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However, President Nana Akufo-Addo delayed signing it pending the challenges filed at the Supreme Court.
Amanda Odoi and Richard Sky, both lawyers, filed separate challenges to the bill, seeking to declare it illegal and prevent the president from signing it.
Justice Avril Lovelace-Johnson, from the seven-member panel court, said in the televised ruling that the cases were premature.
“Until there’s presidential assent, there is no act,” she said, adding the two cases were “unanimously dismissed.”
Lawyers for Odoi and Sky told Reuters they were disappointed by the ruling and would examine their options after studying the full judgment.
A coalition of Christian, Muslim, and Ghanaian traditional leaders sponsored the legislation.
Gay sex was already punishable by up to three years in prison before this legislation. The bill now also imposes a prison sentence of up to five years for the “willful promotion, sponsorship, or support of LGBTQ+ activities.”
“I think that just this pronouncement, this kind of formalism, actually puts at risk, the lives and health of members of the (LGBT) community and some of us who are human rights defenders,” Abena Takyiwaa Manuh, senior fellow of Accra-based Centre for Democratic Governance, said from the court.
“They can now do their worst.”
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