New Patriotic Party (NPP) lawmaker Vincent Ekow Assafuah has accused the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC) of inconsistency and a lack of urgency over the controversial anti-LGBTQ bill, contrasting its current stance with strong public commitments made before it returned to power.
The Old Tafo MP said the previous NPP administration demonstrated clear political will by allowing the private members’ bill to proceed through all parliamentary stages, despite having the numbers and procedural tools to halt it.
“We could have stopped it from the onset. We could have decided not to place it on the order paper, but we allowed it to go through all the stages and we passed it,” Assafuah said on Asaase Radio’s The Forum programme on Saturday (17 January).
Rhetoric
He said the NDC’s posture since assuming office contrasts sharply with its rhetoric in 2023 and 2024, when senior party figures publicly demanded swift passage and presidential assent to the bill.
Assafuah cited comments by NDC lawmaker Sam George, who he said warned during the 2024 campaign that then-presidential candidate John Dramani Mahama would have “no peace” if the bill was not signed into law once he became president.
He also referred to remarks Mahama made to clergy at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, where the president said he would pass the bill “with the speed of light” if elected, arguing that such practices were alien to Ghana’s cultural and religious values.
Mixed signals
However, Assafuah said mixed signals have since emerged from government.
According to him, President Mahama told the Ghana Catholic Bishops’ Conference that the bill had lapsed with the previous parliament and would have to go through fresh parliamentary processes before being presented to him for assent.
In contrast, Assafuah said Majority Leader and Leader of Government Business, Mahama Ayariga, has told the public that the bill has already been passed – a position the MP said was used to justify removing it from the parliamentary order paper.
“It took only one statement from the leader of government business to take the bill off the order paper, despite the labour and sacrifice of the private members who sponsored it,” Assafuah said.
No urgency
He described the development as evidence of both a lack of urgency and inconsistency on the part of the NDC, particularly given the party’s earlier campaign promises.
Assafuah further contrasted the handling of the bill with the pace of legislation under the current parliament, noting that in the first session of the ninth parliament, the NDC-led government passed 33 bills under certificates of urgency, many of them within a few hours.
“When they want to act, they act swiftly,” he said. “That makes the delay and confusion over this bill even more difficult to justify.”
Asaase Broadcasting Company airs on Asaase 99.5 Accra, Asaase 98.5 Kumasi, Asaase 99.7 Tamale, Asaase 100.3 Cape Coast, AsaasePa 107.3 (Accra).
Affiliates: Bawku FM 101.5, Bead FM 99.9 (Bimbilla), Mining City Radio 89.5 (Tarkwa), Nandom FM 101.9, Nyatefe Radio 94.5 (Dzodze), Sissala Radio 96.3 (Tumu), Somuaa FM 89.9 (Gushegu), Stone City 90.7 (Ho) and Wale FM 106.9 (Walewale).
Listen online: asaaseradio.com, Sound Garden and TuneIn.
Follow us:
X: @asaaseradio995, @Asaase985ksi, @Asaase997tamale, @asaase1003, asaasepa1073
Instagram: asaaseradio99.5, asaase985ksi, asaase100.3, asaase99.7tamale, asaasepa107.3
LinkedIn: company/asaaseradio995. TikTok: @asaaseradio99.5
Facebook: asaase99.5, asaase985ksi, Asaase100.3, asaase99.7, AsaasePa107.3.
YouTube: AsaaseRadioXtra.
Join the conversation. Accra: call 020 000 9951/054 888 8995, WhatsApp 020 000 0995. Kumasi: call 059 415 7985 or call/WhatsApp 020 631 5260. Tamale: call/WhatsApp/SMS 053 554 6468. Cape Coast: call/WhatsApp 059 388 2652.
#AsaaseRadio
#AsaasePa
#TheVoiceofOurLand
