President John Mahama says Ghana’s anti-LGBTQ+ bill will face legal scrutiny before approval after MPs passed legislation proposing prison terms.
Ghana’s anti-LGBTQ+ bill will be reviewed before it can be officially approved, President John Mahama has said, after lawmakers passed legislation that would criminalise LGBTQ+ activities and impose prison sentences for people who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or queer.
Speaking during a visit to the UK, Mahama said his legal team and attorney general would examine the bill because it came as a private members’ motion rather than as government legislation. “We will look at it and make sure that everything is in order,” he said.
The bill, passed by parliament on Friday, proposes prison terms of up to three years for identifying as LGBTQ+. It also includes a “duty to report” prohibited acts to police, while people who identify as allies or supporters of LGBTQ+ people could also face prison sentences.
Mahama said the legislation could be referred to the Council of State, his advisory body, if problems are found. He also said there had been procedural lapses in the bill’s passage and that those were being addressed by the Speaker of parliament.
The measure comes amid pressure from religious leaders for stronger anti-gay laws in Ghana, where same-sex relationships are already banned under colonial-era statutes. Supporters of the bill argue it would help preserve Ghanaian family values.
Rights groups have sharply criticised the legislation, saying it threatens the rights of sexual minorities. Human Rights Watch recommended that the bill be abandoned in a formal submission to the constitutional and legal affairs committee reviewing it in Accra.
This is the second time Ghanaian MPs have backed such legislation. A similar bill was introduced in 2021 after an LGBTQ+ resources centre was shut down in Accra and was passed in 2024, but former President Nana Akufo-Addo did not assent to it before leaving office. That version faced multiple Supreme Court lawsuits, which Akufo-Addo cited as a reason for not approving it.
The current bill was reintroduced this year by a cross-party group of MPs. Parliamentary members of Ghana’s minority party have said they preferred the 2024 version, arguing that amendments to the latest bill reduced its force. The current version exempts legal, healthcare and media professionals from punishment when providing medical treatment or other services to gay people, or reporting on LGBTQ+ issues.
Mahama’s review leaves the bill’s immediate future unresolved. The next step is whether his legal advisers, the attorney general or the Council of State identify issues that delay or alter the path to presidential approval.
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