(Bloomberg) -- Ghanaians took to the streets of the nation’s capital in their latest protest, this time to ask the nation’s top court to speed up implementation of an anti-LGBTQ bill.
Hundreds of people clad in red and holding placards gathered in Accra for the latest march to hit President Nana Akufo-Addo’s administration ahead of presidential elections in December. This could further dent approval of his ruling New Patriotic Party, which is seen as the underdog in the upcoming vote.
Following the bill’s passage in parliament in February, academic Amanda Odoi and lawyer Richard Sky filed separate lawsuits requesting an injunction to stop lawmakers from sending the bill to the president for his signature. They’re also challenging the constitutionality of the bill, which calls for three years’ imprisonment for people who identify as LGBTQ.
“We want a timeline on the matter from the chief justice,” Samuel Nartey George, a member of parliament and one of the proponents of the bill, said before the march. “It is the chief justice’s power and responsibility to ensure that parties involved in the case adhere to the timeline that are in the rules of procedure.”
The parties involved in the anti-LGBTQ cases “have not completed the work they are to do before a hearing by the Supreme Court can be conducted,” Judicial Service of Ghana said last month.
Ghana’s top court on July 17 deferred a ruling on the injunction, saying a decision will be made once there’s a judgment on the legislation’s constitutionality.
Chief Justice Gertrude Torkornoo said the court will continue to hear arguments on the cases challenging the bill’s constitutionality, but a date for hearings has yet to be set.
Akufo-Addo’s endorsement is the last step required for the bill to become law, but he could also reject the bill or transfer it to the Council of State for further advice.
High Stakes
If endorsed, the punitive law would deepen discrimination against queer people and criminalize friends or family who don’t report those who are members of the LGBTQ community.
The law would also jeopardize $3.8 billion of World Bank funding over the next six years, the Finance Ministry said in March. It could derail a $3 billion bailout program from the International Monetary Fund and hurt the country’s efforts to restructure about $20 billion of external debt, it said.
The protesters presented a petition to the Attorney General’s office, one of the parties accused of delaying proceedings for not filing necessary papers to the court. They gave a second petition to the judicial service, whose chief justice is being blamed for not hastening the process.
Today’s demonstration — which members of parliament, civil society and religious bodies are leading — comes after a three-day march against illegal small-scale mining aimed at forcing the government to fight a practice that people blame for polluting rivers and soils.
Just weeks before, thousands of members of the main opposition National Democratic Congress party demonstrated to demand a forensic audit of the voter roll as they alleged manipulation.
Ghanaian Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia will face off against former president and NDC candidate John Dramani Mahama on Dec. 7. Akufo-Addo is stepping down after his second and final four-year term.
--With assistance from Yinka Ibukun.
(Updates with presentation of petition in 10th paragraph.)
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