Ghana Supreme Court upholds anti-LGBTQ bill

Ghana’s Supreme Court on Wednesday, December 18, rejected two bids to overturn a controversial piece of legislation that severely restricts LGBTQ rights, which lawmakers adopted earlier this year.

Lawmakers approved the Sexual Rights and Family Values Bill in February, drawing international condemnation despite receiving widespread public support in the conservative West African country. The proposed legislation stipulates jail terms of six months to three years for engaging in LGBTQ sex.

The bill will only enter into law after being ratified by outgoing President Nana Akufo-Addo, who has not yet announced his decision. Akufo-Addo, set to officially step down on January 7 after two terms in office, previously stated he would await the Supreme Court’s ruling on the bill’s constitutionality before taking action.

“It will be premature for this court to exercise its interpretive and enforcement jurisdiction to intervene. Consequently, the action fails,” said judge Avril Lovelace-Johnson, head of the court’s seven-member panel, while delivering the judgement.

“Until there is presidential assent to the bill, there is no act of which the Supreme Court will use its supervisory jurisdiction to overturn,” she added.

The court’s ruling followed legal challenges filed by Ghanaian broadcaster Richard Dela-Sky, who questioned the bill’s constitutionality, and university researcher Amanda Odoi.

The bill has faced criticism from several countries, including the United States, and sparked concerns from Ghana’s finance ministry, which warned that its passage could jeopardize billions of dollars in World Bank funding.