Supreme Court directs plaintiff in anti-LGBTQ+ Bill suit to file fresh motion

The Supreme Court has ordered one of the plaintiffs in the suit challenging the passage of the Human Sexual Rights and Family Values Bill to file a fresh motion.

The plaintiff, Richard Dela Sky, a broadcast journalist, is contesting Parliament’s constitutionality in approving the “Human Sexual Rights and Family Values Bill,” also known as the LGBTQ+ bill.

Sky, who is requesting that the Supreme Court deem the Bill unlawful, also claims that its passing violates sections of the 1992 Constitution, including Article 33(5), as well as Articles 12(1) and (2), 15(1), 17(1) and (2), 18(2), and 21(1) (a) (b) (d) and (e).

According to him, provisions in the bill “raise profound concerns regarding the potential infringement of the fundamental human rights and freedoms guaranteed to every Ghanaian by the Constitution.”

The Plaintiff is seeking eight reliefs, including an order stating that “the Speaker of Parliament contravened Article 108(a)(ii) of the Constitution, in light of Article 296(a)(b) and (c), by admitting and allowing Parliament to proceed upon and pass, 'The Human Sexual Rights and Family Values Bill, 2024' into law as the same imposes a charge upon the Consolidated Fund or other public funds of Ghana.”

However, on Wednesday, the Supreme Court directed the plaintiff to file a new motion, along with a supplementary affidavit and statement of the case.

Sky and his Lawyers were also given leave to address any issues, matters of fact and issues of law in the new process.

This was after Paa Kwesi Abaidoo, lawyer for Mr Sky filed two separate applications seeking leave to amend one of their reliefs and another to file a supplementary affidavit to their application for interlocutory injunction.

Initially, the Attorney General, Godfred Yeboah Dame, opposed the request for leave to file a supplementary affidavit.

But the lawyers of the Speaker of Parliament, led by Thaddeus Sory, urged that a fresh motion be filed to clean up the processes.

The five-member panel presided over by Chief Justice Gertrude Araba Esaaba Torkornoo said the plaintiff had up till May 17, 2024, to file the new processes.

Meanwhile, Mr Thaddeus Sory, counsel for the first defendant, has been granted seven days after service to file any processes on which they may depend during the trial.

The matter has been adjourned indefinitely.
The bill, which prohibits LGBTQ activities and their promotion, advocacy, and funding, was passed by Parliament on Wednesday, February 28, 2024.

The lawsuit has since restricted Parliament from submitting the Bill to the Presidency for President Nana Addo Dankwah Akufo-Addo’s assent.

Meanwhile, in the case of Dr. Amanda Odoi, a researcher at the University of Cape Coast who is also challenging the validity of Parliament’s approval of the LQBTQ+ Bill, the Speaker’s Lawyer, Mr Sory, has been directed to file new supplementary affidavits.

This followed Dr. Ernest Ako, the counsel for Dr. Odoi, informing the Court that Mr Sory’s supplementary affidavit was filed without the Court’s permission.

He stated that they felt they should be allowed to respond, notwithstanding the inappropriate language used in the affidavit.

The Court stated that many of the paragraphs were inappropriate and should be reviewed.

Dr Odoi filed an application for an interlocutory injunction against the Speaker of Parliament and the Attorney General in response to the recent passage of the anti-gay bill.

GNA