The Chairman of Advocates for Christ Ghana, a Civil Society Organization, Edem Senanu, has added his voice to the growing concern about the the delay in passing the Anti-LGBT Bill.

Speaking in an interview on Joy FM’s News Night on Wednesday, he expressed concern about the delay.

According to him, the deliberation on the passing of the Anti-LGBT Bill is not supposed to exceed three months.

“There has been a very long delay. I think about a week or half ago, I happened to catch up with the Chair, Mr Kwame Ayimadu Antwi and I asked him about it and he said we are wrapping up on the public hearing and I was wondering how public hearing could last for a whole year,” he wondered.

Mr. Senanu stated that after meeting with the Chairman of the Constitutional and Legal Affairs Committee, who assured him that the deliberation was nearing completion, "we are absolutely dismayed that it is taking this long."

He added that he is not too surprised that members of Parliament have also recognised the undue delay as well.

His remarks follow the concern expressed by the Minority Chief Whip, Muntaka Mubarak who accused the Chairman of deliberately delaying the passage of the Anti –LGBTQI Bill and coming up with excuses.

“If he wanted it to be fast, you know what to do. If the government wanted to get that bill done, they know what to do,” he stated.

He threatened that the Minority in Parliament will block the introduction of any bill by the Executive if the passage of the Bill continues to delay.

https://www.myjoyonline.com/anti-lgbtqi-bill-we-have-to-take-time-to-pass-a-law-that-will-stand-the-test-of-time-committee-chairman/

But Chairman of the Committee, Kwame Anyimadu Antwi has dismissed the claims. He explained that the delay is due to the Committee's desire to pass legislation that will stand the test of time.

Speaking on the floor of the House on Wednesday, he stressed that the Committee will go through the required legal processes before passing the Bill, adding that “we just cannot rush through this.”

According to him, the Committee is on course with the passage of the Bill, adding that they have “never rested.”

Also on Top Story, Mr Ayimadu Antwi stated that the delay is due to the Committee's desire to learn from best practices in countries such as South Africa and the United Kingdom, which have passed laws on LGBT Bill after extensive debate.

In response, Mr Senamu stated that the reason given, learning the practices of other jurisdictions, although good, does not justify the year-long delay.

“They should not think that people are not watching and paying attention but what the people of this country want is clear. So he needs to be cautious that you don’t do something that becomes clearly an effort to frustrate the process.

“If this had been done in 6 months perhaps nobody will be commenting, but a whole year and you say you are still listening to best practice across the world, obviously nobody is going to believe that,” he stated.