A four-member delegation from Parliament's Committee on Constitutional, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs will meet with the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) today to begin negotiations on the anti-gay measure presently before Parliament.
The group, led by the committee's Chairman, Kwame Anyimadu-Antwi, departed Accra yesterday for the meetings in London.
The Ghanaian Family Values and Promotion of Proper Human Sexual Rights Bill, 2021, has sparked national debate. The anti-gay measure aims to make sexual interactions and affiliations between LGBTQ+ people illegal.
It also aims to criminalize a wide range of non-heterosexual behaviors and habits, as well as any advocacy for or in favour of LGBTQ+ rights or individuals.
Other concerns
Before departing the nation on Sunday, June 12, 2022, Mr Anyimadu-Antwi told the Daily Graphic that the conference will also cover "other matters."
He said that the Speaker, Alban S.K. Bagbin, offered the invitation to the committee.
As a result, four members of the committee, including himself and ranking member Bernard Ahiafor, will attend the meeting, which will take place from today, Monday, June 13, to Wednesday, June 15, 2022.
Not the British Parliament, but the CPA
Mr Anyimadu-Antwi stated that the CPA, not the British Parliament, extended the invitation to the committee, as reported in the media. He stated that the CPA, which included Ghanaian legislators, was headquartered in the United Kingdom, and that Ghana's Parliament was not submissive to the British Parliament, as reported in the media.
"The issue should not be misunderstood to mean that the committee was invited to the meeting by the British Parliament," he stated.
The bill will not be postponed.
Mr Anyimadu-Antwi, the Member of Parliament (MP) for Asante Akyem Central, said the anti-gay law committee's work was on track.
He said that the process had not been delayed, contrary to what the Minority group in Parliament wanted the people to believe. He stated that the committee had roughly eight more memoranda to evaluate and that those who submitted them requested to be heard in private.
"So we're on track and the bill hasn't been postponed," he remarked.
Background
Some members of the Minority caucus addressed the matter on the floor of Parliament last week, claiming that the Committee on Constitutional, Legal, and Parliamentary Affairs was purposely delaying the presentation of the anti-gay measure to the plenary to be approved into law.
They criticized the chair of the committee for the delay.
In his answer on the floor of Parliament, Mr Anyimadu-Antwi stated that the committee's work had not been delayed.