New Patriotic Party (NPP) Member of Parliament (MP) for Old Tafo, Vincent Ekow Assafuah, has accused the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC) of inconsistency and a lack of urgency over the controversial anti-LGBTQ bill, contrasting its current stance with strong public commitments made before it returned to power.
The Old Tafo MP said the previous NPP administration demonstrated clear political will by allowing the private members’ bill to proceed through all parliamentary stages, despite having the numbers and procedural tools to halt it.
“We could have stopped it from the onset. We could have decided not to place it on the order paper, but we allowed it to go through all the stages and we passed it,” Assafuah said on Asaase Radio’s The Forum programme on Saturday (17 January).
Rhetoric
He said the NDC’s posture since assuming office contrasts sharply with its rhetoric in 2023 and 2024, when senior party figures publicly demanded swift passage and presidential assent to the bill.
Assafuah cited comments by NDC lawmaker Sam George, who he said warned during the 2024 campaign that then-presidential candidate John Dramani Mahama would have “no peace” if the bill was not signed into law once he became president.
He also referred to remarks Mahama made to clergy at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, where the president said he would pass the bill “with the speed of light” if elected, arguing that such practices were alien to Ghana’s cultural and religious values.
Mixed signals
However, Assafuah said mixed signals have since emerged from the government.
According to him, President Mahama told the Ghana Catholic Bishops’ Conference that the bill had lapsed with the previous parliament and would have to go through fresh parliamentary processes before being presented to him for assent.
In contrast, Assafuah said Majority Leader and Leader of Government Business, Mahama Ayariga, has told the public that the bill has already been passed – a position the MP said was used to justify removing it from the parliamentary order paper.
“It took only one statement from the leader of government business to take the bill off the order paper, despite the labour and sacrifice of the private members who sponsored it,” Assafuah said.
No urgency
He described the development as evidence of both a lack of urgency and inconsistency on the part of the NDC, particularly given the party’s earlier campaign promises.
Assafuah further contrasted the handling of the bill with the pace of legislation under the current parliament, noting that in the first session of the ninth parliament, the NDC-led government passed 33 bills under certificates of urgency, many of them within a few hours.
“When they want to act, they act swiftly,” he said. “That makes the delay and confusion over this bill even more difficult to justify.”
Judiciary Exploited
In a related development, Rashid Tanko Computer, Deputy Director of Elections for the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC), has accused the former New Patriotic Party (NPP) government of illegally obstructing the transmission of the controversial anti-LGBTI+ bill to the presidency, saying it contributed to ongoing legislative and political challenges.
Speaking on The Forum on Asaase Radio on Saturday (17 January), Tanko Computer claimed that the previous administration misused the judiciary to block the signing of legislation.
“If the then-president had signed it, we wouldn’t be talking about this. But they refused. There was no legal issue; they tried to use the judiciary to their advantage,” he said.
“The president could have written to parliament indicating why he was not going to sign the bill – the constitution allows it. But you cannot stop the transmission of the bill to the president; the judiciary has no such powers.”
Commitment
Tanko Computer argued that the NPP’s alleged obstruction created significant problems but said the NDC is committed to ensuring the bill’s passage and signing under its current administration.
“The government itself is bringing it [the bill] and will look at it and see if there are a few things it needs to tighten up. We have given our promise to the Catholic Bishops and the Christian Council that as soon as it is passed, he won’t blink an eye in signing it,” he said.
He added that the NDC’s national executive committee is fully supportive of the measure and considers it a priority, emphasizing the party’s commitment to fulfilling its political promises.
Tanko Computer did not provide details on the specific bill, but his comments come amid heightened political discourse in Ghana regarding the pace and handling of key legislative initiatives.
