The Minority in Parliament has launched a scathing attack on the National Democratic Congress (NDC) government, accusing it of hypocrisy, deception and a breach of public trust over what it describes as extensive changes made to the Human Sexual Rights and Family Values Bill, 2025, popularly known as the anti-LGBTQ+ bill.
Addressing a press conference on Monday, June 1, Member of Parliament for Assin South and co-sponsor of the bill, Rev. John Ntim Fordjour, said the Minority remains fully committed to the objectives of the legislation but strongly opposes what it claims are significant amendments that have altered the substance of the original bill passed by Parliament in 2024.
According to Rev. Fordjour, the NDC, while in opposition, consistently maintained that the only obstacle preventing the bill from becoming law was presidential assent. He recalled that the party had joined public calls urging former President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to sign the legislation and had assured Ghanaians that an NDC administration would do so without hesitation.
“In 2024, Ghanaians were told that the Human Sexual Rights and Family Values Bill required only presidential assent. That was all that Ghanaians were told was needed. Indeed, the NDC were very forceful in joining those calls, insisting that all that remained was for the President to sign the bill,” he stated.
Rev. Fordjour argued that President John Dramani Mahama and the NDC campaigned on a clear promise to assent to the bill if elected, making no mention of plans to amend or review it.
“The country was urged to pressure President Akufo-Addo to sign the bill immediately. In 2026, however, when the same bill was placed before them in the expectation that President Mahama would sign it as promised, the bill in that form was not presented to him,” he said.
The Assin South MP alleged that before the bill could be submitted for presidential assent, it underwent what he described as major changes, including deletions, redrafting and numerous insertions.
“The bill had to be mutilated. It had to go through major surgeries. Original provisions had to be deleted, sections redrafted, and 31 insertions made before President Mahama would have it and desire to sign it,” he claimed.
Questioning the government’s commitment to its campaign promise, Rev. Fordjour said the actions of the NDC were inconsistent with the assurances it gave Ghanaians ahead of the 2024 general elections.
“Was the promise to come and amend the bill? Was the promise to come and review, mutilate or dilute the bill before signing it? You all remember the promise. The promise was clear,” he said.
He further accused the governing party of misleading voters by presenting itself as the political force that would ensure the bill became law without delay.
“On all their platforms, they said, ‘Vote the NPP out because they won’t sign the bill. Vote NDC because NDC will come and sign the bill.’ They did not say NDC would come and amend the bill. They did not say NDC would come and review it. They did not say NDC would delete provisions and redraft it before signing,” he stated.
Rev. Fordjour concluded by describing the government’s handling of the legislation as a betrayal of the trust placed in it by Ghanaians.
“That is a scam. That is a breach of trust. That is deception, and that is hypocrisy,” he declared.
The Minority insists that while it supports the broader objectives of the Human Sexual Rights and Family Values Bill, any substantial amendments to the legislation undermine the assurances previously given to the Ghanaian public and depart significantly from the version Parliament originally approved.
