Ghana’s Parliament has passed the Human Sexual Rights and Family Values Bill with exemptions for lawyers, journalists and doctors, triggering disputes over whether the law was weakened.
Lawmakers approved the legislation on Friday by a voice vote after the Constitutional and Legal Affairs Committee recommended its adoption, with First Deputy Speaker Bernard Ahiafor in the chair. The bill, which seeks to criminalise LGBTQ activities, now goes to President John Mahama for assent. It retains penalties for same sex acts, bans the funding, sponsorship and promotion of LGBTQ activity, and introduces a duty to report such acts to authorities.
Under the amendments, legal practitioners, media professionals and health workers who provide services to people identified as LGBTQ are exempt from sanctions. A near identical bill passed in February 2024 under former President Nana Akufo-Addo, who declined to sign it amid Supreme Court challenges before it lapsed in January 2025 and was reintroduced.
The amendments drew sharp criticism from the Minority. Effia Member of Parliament (MP) Isaac Yaw Boamah-Nyarko argued that a reintroduced Clause 9 created exemptions absent from the version presented to Akufo-Addo, claiming the bill had been watered down. Ross Osei Owusu, a member of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) legal team, said punitive provisions in earlier clauses had been removed and custodial sentences reduced, questioning the law’s practical effect.
Critics alleged that some changes were smuggled into the legislation. John Osae-Kwapong of the Centre for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana) questioned that narrative, noting the bill underwent committee scrutiny by both sides, though he said any provision inserted without lawmakers’ knowledge would raise procedural concerns. Political scientist Ransford Gyampo defended the process as bipartisan committee work rather than partisan manipulation.
Communications Minister Sam George, a co-sponsor, dismissed the criticism as politically motivated. He maintained that protections for lawyers, doctors and journalists always existed within the bill and were simply spelt out for clarity, and accused some opponents of seeking to defend Akufo-Addo’s earlier refusal to sign.
IMANI Africa’s Kofi Bentil said the amendments vindicated Akufo-Addo and accused the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC) of inconsistency, urging that the bill championed earlier be sent to the president if commitment to it is genuine.
William Nyarko of the Africa Center for International Law and Accountability (ACILA) warned the law could face constitutional challenge over whether the required quorum was present. Citing Article 104(1) of the 1992 Constitution and the Supreme Court’s Justice Abdulai ruling, he argued that at least 138 of Parliament’s 276 members must be present for a valid vote.
The bill has drawn backing from some religious and cultural groups and criticism from rights advocates and international organisations. Its future now rests with the president.
