The 2024 Flagbearer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), John Dramani Mahama has slammed the President, Nana Addo Danquah Akufo Addo for disrespecting Parliament by tasking his Executive Secretary, Nana Bediatuo Asante to write to the august House, not to submit the recently passed Anti- LGBTQ+ Bill to his office.
John Mahama describes the development as undemocratic and a clear sign of bad governance.
The former President who was speaking at a community engagement at Banda during his two-day tour of the Oti Region, noted with concern, attempts to undermine the second arm of government.
The letter to the Clerk of Parliament, dated, Monday, March 18, 2024, simply said Nana Akufo Addo has declined to assent to the bill, upon the advice of the Attorney-General who brought to his attention, two injunction applications before the Supreme Court.
“It has come to the attention of this Office that while the President and other senior officials of the Presidency were at Peduase for a Cabinet Retreat on Thursday, 14th March 2024, you attempted to submit the Human Sexual Rights and Family Values Bill, 2024 (the “Bill”) to Jubilee House for the President to signify his assent or otherwise to the Bill.
It added .. “This Office is aware of two pending applications for an order of interlocutory injunction, both filed on 7th March 2024 in the Supreme Court in Dr. Amanda Odoi v. The Speaker of Parliament and The Attorney-General (J1/13/2023) and Richard Sky vrs.
The Parliament of Ghana and The Attorney-General (31/9/2024) respectively, to restrain you and Parliament from transmitting the Bill to the President and, also, to restrain the President from signifying his assent to the Bill, pending the final determination of the matter,”
But Mr Mahama, who has publicly declared his stance in favour of the bill, disagrees. According to him, the assertion that signing the bill could potentially prejudice the outcome of the legal proceedings or undermine the authority of the court, is baseless.
“The way and manner the letter was written, does not show respect to Parliament, the second arm of government. It creates the impression that he has authority over Parliament. This is not good for governance,” he stressed.
He explained further .. “Parliament is a Constitutional body. The constitution mandates Parliament to submit a bill to the President for his assent and so you cannot ask Parliament not to do its work. You can’t write a letter to the Clerk that the bill should not be sent to the President”.
President Akufo Addo’s official attempt to stampede Parliament’s work has fuelled suspicion of his personal resolve not to sign the bill into law.
It will be recalled that, barely 48hrs after Parliament unanimously approved the bill, the President, assured some members of the diplomatic community, that he will not be in a rush to assent to the Anti-LGBTQ+ Bill, as expected by Ghanaians.
MPs REACT:
Members of Parliament have reacted angrily to Nana Bediatuo Asante’s letter to the Clerk, against any attempt to submit the Anti-LGBTQ+ bill to the Presidency for action.
According to them, the move is flawed because the Supreme Court can only interpret the law if it is duly passed, hence the application is moot in its current form.
Former Minority Leader and MP for Tamale South, Haruna Iddrisu, did not mince words in his reaction to the twist of events.
According to him, the Presidency erred. He explained that the President’s Secretary has no power to write to the Clerk of Parliament urging the House to refrain from transmitting the recently passed anti-LGBT+ Bill to Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo for assenting into law.
“I am unable to sleep because this is a monumental threat to Ghana’s democracy and a monumental threat to parliament as an institution. This letter only reflects President Akufo-Addo’s quest for predominance over other organs of the state. That is unacceptable and must be fought by all persons who love democracy and cherish the principles and values of the 1992 Constitution”.
He added “Politically, what power does the president’s secretary have to write to the clerk of parliament? And not the president himself writing directly to the Speaker of Parliament as required in the Standing Orders, so that officially, this can be read as communication from the president. So ideally, this paper means nothing and should be ignored by the clerk because communication to parliament must be signed by the President, addressed to the Speaker of Parliament.
Source;myxyzonline/Wisdom Hededzome
