Majority Leader Mahama Ayariga has stated emphatically that Speaker Alban Bagbin cannot overturn Parliament’s decision to pass the Human Sexual Rights and Family Values Bill, 2025, maintaining that the legislation was approved in full compliance with parliamentary procedures and that no rules were breached during its passage.
His comments come after the Speaker appealed to Parliament to reconsider the controversial bill following concerns surrounding the process that led to its passage on Friday, May 29. Bagbin had indicated that he expected the House to commence consideration of the bill and was surprised to learn that all stages of the legislative process had been completed.
Speaking on Eyewitness News on Tuesday, June 2, Mahama Ayariga maintained that Parliament acted within its standing orders and dismissed suggestions that the bill was improperly passed. According to him, the Speaker’s intervention amounts only to an appeal for reconsideration and cannot alter a decision already taken by the House.
“The Speaker is only appealing. He cannot in any way reverse what has happened. What has happened has happened. We have passed many bills the same way, and indeed there was no rule that was breached at all,” Ayariga stated.
He explained that concerns over the requirement for a bill to wait 24 hours before proceeding to the next stage were addressed through a procedural motion for the abridgement of time, a parliamentary mechanism frequently used to expedite legislative business.
“If you check the Votes and Proceedings, you will see clearly that the procedural motion was moved and allowed by the First Deputy Speaker. We abridged time and that enabled us to take the bill through the third consideration stage. So there was absolutely no breach of procedure,” he said.
Ayariga also dismissed claims that the legislation could have been withdrawn by one of its sponsors, particularly Assin South MP Rev. John Ntim Fordjour. He argued that the bill had multiple sponsors and that the decision of a single sponsor to withdraw support would not have affected its consideration by Parliament.
“The Honourable Ntim Fordjour could not have withdrawn the bill. He was not the only sponsor. There were several other sponsors, so whatever he threatened to do or not do had no effect whatsoever on the bill and its consideration by the House,” he added.
The debate follows concerns raised by Bosome Freho MP Nana Asafo-Adjei Ayeh, who indicated that none of the Minority sponsors of the bill was present when Parliament completed the final stages of the legislative process.
