Only constitutional breach can reopen anti-LGBTQ Bill-Fmr Deputy Speaker

Former First Deputy Speaker Joseph Osei Owusu has pushed back against suggestions that the anti-LGBTQ Bill should automatically return to the floor of Parliament over concerns about procedure.

In his view, the threshold for reopening a bill already passed by the House is not an ordinary breach of the Standing Orders, but a violation of the Constitution.

Speaking on Joy FM’s Top Story on Wednesday, June 3, Mr Osei Owusu said he had not been told which specific parliamentary rules were allegedly breached during the passage of the Human Sexual Rights and Family Values Bill, 2025.

He said any attempt to revisit the matter must first establish a constitutional defect.

His comments add another legal and procedural layer to the controversy triggered by Speaker Alban Bagbin’s concerns about how the bill was passed on Friday, May 29.

Mr Bagbin had indicated that he expected Parliament to begin consideration of the bill, only to later learn that the House had completed all stages of the process.

That development led him to call for Parliament to revisit the passage of the legislation.

The issue has since divided opinion, with some questioning whether breaches of parliamentary procedure, if proven, are enough to undo the decision already taken.

Mr Osei Owusu’s position is that the decisive question should be whether the Constitution was violated.

Majority Leader Mahama Ayariga has also defended the validity of the passage, insisting that the Speaker cannot reverse a decision already made by the House.

The bill, formally known as the Human Sexual Rights and Family Values Bill, seeks to criminalise LGBTQ-related activities and advocacy in Ghana.