{"id":99860,"date":"2025-10-23T08:31:59","date_gmt":"2025-10-23T08:31:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=99860"},"modified":"2025-10-23T08:31:59","modified_gmt":"2025-10-23T08:31:59","slug":"anti-lgbtq-bill-confusion-reflects-ghanas-lack-of-clear-policy-direction-osae-kwapong","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=99860","title":{"rendered":"Anti-LGBTQ+ bill confusion reflects Ghana\u2019s lack of clear policy direction\u2014 Osae-Kwapong"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class='booster-block booster-read-block'>\n                <div class=\"twp-read-time\">\n                \t<i class=\"booster-icon twp-clock\"><\/i> <span>Read Time:<\/span>1 Minute, 35 Second                <\/div>\n\n            <\/div><div>\n<p>A governance expert with the Centre for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana), Professor John Osae-Kwapong, says the ongoing confusion over the Anti-LGBTQ+ Bill highlights a deeper policy dilemma for Ghana\u2014whether the country truly knows how it wants to address issues of sexual orientation and rights through legislation.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking on the JoyNews AM Show, Prof. Osae-Kwapong reflected on the events leading up to the passage of the Private Members\u2019 Bill, the President\u2019s delay in assenting to it, and the subsequent Supreme Court challenge filed against the legislation.<\/p>\n<p>He explained that after the bill\u2019s passage, the President paused on giving his assent following the court case, which questioned aspects of the bill that the plaintiffs found constitutionally problematic.<\/p>\n<p>Prof. Osae-Kwapong also pointed out that the issue had long become a politically charged one. <\/p>\n<p>Despite the two main presidential candidates clearly stating their positions, he said, some political actors continued to accuse them of supporting the bill.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo within that context, I am not surprised that the conversation has turned out the way it did,\u201d he remarked.<\/p>\n<p>He added that beyond the question of whether the bill has expired or needs to be reintroduced, the real issue is whether Ghana, as a country, has decided on a consistent policy stance regarding the matter.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>\u201cIf Ghana as a country believes this is something that needs a policy response in terms of legislation to outlaw it, then whatever Ghana chooses\u2014whether the bill has expired or not\u2014that question still remains: what does the country want to do?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Prof. Osae-Kwapong further noted that if it is the considered opinion of the President that the matter should be treated as government-sponsored legislation, then the appropriate process must be followed through Parliament.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>\u201cYou would have to wait for that government-sponsored legislation to come to Parliament and see it through,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n        <div class=\"booster-block booster-reactions-block\">\n            <div class=\"twp-reactions-icons\">\n                \n                <div class=\"twp-reacts-wrap\">\n                    <a react-data=\"be-react-1\" post-id=\"99860\" class=\"be-face-icons un-reacted\" href=\"javascript:void(0)\">\n                        <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/wp-content\/plugins\/booster-extension\/\/assets\/icon\/happy.svg\" alt=\"Happy\">\n                    <\/a>\n                    <div class=\"twp-reaction-title\">\n                        Happy                    <\/div>\n                    <div class=\"twp-count-percent\">\n                                                    <span style=\"display: none;\" class=\"twp-react-count\">0<\/span>\n                        \n                                                <span class=\"twp-react-percent\"><span>0<\/span> 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src=\"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/wp-content\/plugins\/booster-extension\/\/assets\/icon\/angry.svg\" alt=\"Angry\">\n                    <\/a>\n                    <div class=\"twp-reaction-title\">Angry<\/div>\n                    <div class=\"twp-count-percent\">\n                                                    <span style=\"display: none;\" class=\"twp-react-count\">0<\/span>\n                                                                        <span class=\"twp-react-percent\"><span>0<\/span> %<\/span>\n                        \n                    <\/div>\n                <\/div>\n\n                <div class=\"twp-reacts-wrap\">\n                    <a react-data=\"be-react-5\" post-id=\"99860\" class=\"be-face-icons un-reacted\" href=\"javascript:void(0)\">\n                        <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/wp-content\/plugins\/booster-extension\/\/assets\/icon\/surprise.svg\" alt=\"Surprise\">\n                    <\/a>\n                    <div class=\"twp-reaction-title\">Surprise<\/div>\n                    <div class=\"twp-count-percent\">\n                                                    <span style=\"display: none;\" class=\"twp-react-count\">0<\/span>\n                                                                        <span class=\"twp-react-percent\"><span>0<\/span> %<\/span>\n                                            <\/div>\n                <\/div>\n\n            <\/div>\n        <\/div>\n\n    ","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/www.myjoyonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Screenshot-2025-10-23-at-08.01.02-150x150.png\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"CDD\" loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Anti-LGBTQ+ bill confusion reflects Ghana\u2019s lack of clear policy direction\u2014 Osae-Kwapong\">A governance expert with the Centre for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana), Professor John Osae-Kwapong, says the ongoing confusion over the Anti-LGBTQ+ Bill highlights a deeper policy dilemma for Ghana\u2014whether the country truly knows how it wants to address issues of sexual orientation and rights through legislation.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_2277560469115098_106292521332774":"","twitter_aToxNzczMzI3Njk4OTg4ODUxMjAxOw==_1773327698988851200":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[156,11048,536,1883,117,10,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-99860","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-anti-lgbtq-bill","category-dr-osae-kwapong","category-ghana","category-national","category-news","category-politics","category-popular"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99860","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=99860"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99860\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=99860"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=99860"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=99860"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}