The Minority in Parliament has accused the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and leading advocates of the Human Sexual Rights and Family Values Bill of failing to provide Ghanaians with the full facts regarding the status of the legislation during the previous Parliament.

Speaking at a press conference in Accra on June 1, Rev. John Ntim Fordjour said the public narrative surrounding the Bill was built on the claim that former President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo was refusing to sign legislation that had already completed all necessary parliamentary processes.

He argued that this narrative was used to generate public pressure and political criticism against the former President.

Rev. Fordjour noted that President John Dramani Mahama has since stated that the Bill passed by the Eighth Parliament was not submitted to former President Akufo-Addo for assent because legal challenges against the legislation were before the courts.

“If the Bill had not been submitted because the matter was in court, why was he made the face of delay?” he asked.

According to the Minority lawmaker, that revelation fundamentally alters public understanding of what occurred.

He contended that if the Bill was not before the former President for assent, then the campaign portraying him as the principal obstacle to the legislation was based on an incomplete account of the facts.

“The question is why Ghanaians were encouraged to believe that he was responsible for delaying a Bill that had not been submitted to him for assent,” he said.

Rev. Fordjour maintained that public trust requires transparency from political leaders. He called on those who championed immediate assent to explain what they knew about the legal circumstances surrounding the Bill and whether they informed the public about those realities at the time.

“When leaders mobilise citizens around a national issue, they must give them the full picture,” he stressed.