Anti-gay bill: Stalemate between Bagbin and Akufo-Addo is not tit for tat; they are both talking law – Kpebu | 3News

The stalemate between the Speaker of Parliament or the legislature and the President or the executive, over the anti-gay bill should not be seen as tit for tat, private legal practitioner Martin Kpebu has said.

He concedes that on the face of it, one may conclude that it is payback time for the Speaker but the fact remains that both the president and the speaker are all talking about what the law says regarding their actions.

Kpebu said that Mr Akufo-Addo has his full support in refusing to assent to the bill.

It is recalled that the Minister of Justice and Attorney-General Godfred Dame told the Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin that this was not the time to engage in tit-for-tat.

In his view, this is the time to look at things within the legal framework.

“This is a time we have to look at things legally, through the appropriate lenses and with all respect to stop the unnecessary tit for tat that is being done by some people,” he told TV3’s Joseph Ackah-Blay in an exclusive interview on Thursday, March 21.

Speaking on the Key Points on TV3 Saturday March 23, Martin Kpebu said “I am largely in favour of the current situation, it is shaping our democracy well.

This is really good.”

“It is not a tit for tat…on the face of it you may think so but when you go deeper you will find out that both speaker and Akufo-Addo are talking law that when a matter is in court don’t do anything that will make the case a foolish case

“In this case the president is right, he has my support 130% when he says the case in is in court so he cannot sign,” Kpebu said.

On Wednesday, March 20, the Speaker of Parliament Alban Bagbin said that Parliament would not consider the ministerial nominees of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo until after the Supreme Court has finished hearing the suit against the anti-gay bill.

The speaker said this on the floor of Parliament on Wednesday, March 20 while responding to the letter written to the House by the President’s Secretary Nana Bediatuo Asante asking the Clerk of parliament not to remit the bill to the president.

“In alignment with our constitutional mandates and the principles of good governance, it is essential for the President to adhere to the lawful course of action by accepting the transmission of the bill.

Today, the 20th day of March 2024, is a sad day for our democracy by reason of the arbitrary decision of Rt Hon Speaker Bagbin, who was visibly annoyed that a letter from the Office of the President informing the House about the injunctive processes in the Supreme Court relating to the transmission of the Human Sexual Rights and Family Value Bill 2024, is an affront to the dignity of Parliament and subversive of Ghana’s democratic process.

2.

The letter emanating from the Office of the President and under the hand of Nana Bediatuo Asante, Secretary to the President, in substance, pointed to the fact that the President, having regard to the pending Suit number J1/9/2024, Richard Sky v The Parliament of Ghana and the Attorney General and Suit number J1/13/2023, Dr Amanda Odoi v The Attorney General and the Speaker of Parliament in the Supreme Court with their injunctive process, and that the House should not transmit the Human Sexual Rights and Family Value Bill 2024 to the President.

3.

Mr Speaker did not mince words at all in stating that the letter emanating from the Office of the President is an affront to Parliament and a contumacious behaviour of the President.

This, and the President’s previous conduct, Mr Speaker forcefully argues, undermines the authority of Parliament and democratic governance

The Majority asserts in no uncertain terms that the President was being law-abiding by reason of the injunctive processes pending before the Supreme Court.

On every interpretation and permutation, the letter from the Office of the President did not undermine the authority of Parliament as wrongly alleged by Mr Speaker.