Mahama must sign same anti-gay bill NDC backed in opposition – Osahen Afenyo-Markin

The Minority in Parliament has called on President John Dramani Mahama to ensure that the Human Sexual Rights and Family Values Bill, 2025, is passed and assented to without amendments that could alter its original intent.

The Minority says the National Democratic Congress (NDC), while in opposition, supported the legislation and called on then President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to assent to it after Parliament passed the earlier version in 2024.

It is now urging President Mahama to demonstrate the same commitment by ensuring that the legislation retains the provisions the NDC previously supported.

Speaking at a Leaders' Media Briefing on Tuesday, November 3, 2026, ahead of Parliament's resumption, November 3, Minority Leader, Osahen Alexander Afenyo-Markin said the opposition wanted consistency in the government’s position, particularly given the NDC’s earlier support for the Bill.

He argued that the President should not allow further delays or changes that could dilute the legislation, insisting that lawmakers must vote on the actual text of the Bill.

“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,” he stated.