Sign Anti-LGBTQ+ Bill as Passed – Minority Dares Mahama

The Minority in Parliament has challenged President John Dramani Mahama to demonstrate the National Democratic Congress’ (NDC) commitment to the Human Sexual Rights and Family Values Bill, 2025, by ensuring its passage and eventual assent without changes that could weaken its original provisions.

The opposition says the governing party must stand by the position it held while in opposition, when it backed the legislation and urged former President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to sign the previous version after Parliament passed it in 2024.

Minority Leader Alexander Afenyo-Markin said the NDC could not support the Bill when it was in opposition only to allow changes to its substance under the current administration.

Speaking at a Leaders’ Media Briefing on Tuesday, November 3, 2026, ahead of Parliament’s resumption, Mr Afenyo-Markin said the Minority expected President Mahama to ensure that the legislation retained the provisions previously endorsed by his party.

He cautioned against attempts to introduce last-minute amendments, arguing that such changes could dilute the Bill and undermine what the NDC had earlier promised to support.

“The outstanding legislation and the Family Values Bill, then in opposition, the NDC said that the bill, as it was then, must be signed by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo. We, the Minority, will want to secure two things: that citizens’ rights are protected and that the original bill, that the NDC promised and passed in opposition, should be the same bill that must be signed by President John Dramani Mahama.

“We don’t want any late amendments carved out or delayed to water it down. Every member must vote on the actual text. Rights must be protected by precise drafting, consistent with the 1992 Constitution. Blanket exemptions are not safeguards; they are a dilution.”

His remarks place the spotlight on the governing NDC, with the Minority demanding consistency between its previous position on the legislation and its current handling of the Bill.

Mr Afenyo-Markin maintained that lawmakers should be allowed to vote on the actual contents of the legislation rather than a revised version that could change its original purpose.

The Minority Leader also stressed that protecting citizens’ rights must go hand in hand with clear and precise legal provisions, insisting that broad exemptions should not be introduced under the guise of protecting constitutional rights.

Majority Leader assures Mahama will sign Bill

The Majority Leader, Hon. James Agalga, who is also the Member of Parliament for Builsa North, speaking at Leaders’ Media Briefing assured that the government is not abandoning the legislation and that President Mahama will sign it into law in due course.

He maintained that the Bill would be dealt with once and for all, adding that constitutional and human rights provisions would be properly aligned.

“Some human right provision, some constitutional provisions are properly aligned. We shall not run away from such responsibility.

You will recall that a lot was said about the LGBTQ Bill in other words known as the Human Sexual Rights and Family Values Bill. That bill will be dealt with once and for all and I want to assure you the president will sign the Bill into law in due course” he said.