After missing their deadline, Ghana’s Supreme Court has granted lawyers of the Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin an additional seven days to make ready their statement of defence regarding a suit seeking to challenge the anti-lgbtq+ bill.
Lawyer for the Speaker, Raphael Banaangman during court proceedings moved a motion to seek an extension of the deadline, explaining that their missing of the previous deadline was unintentional.
Apart from the Speaker of parliament, the Attorney General who is also a defendant in the case to be determined also missed the deadline. However, lawyers for the AG have explained that they can file their statement of defence only after parliament have made available a fiscal impact report of the bill.
Meanwhile lawyers for the plaintiff called Richard Sky have not objected to the deadline extension request. They however, expressed that they should not be blamed for the delay.
The plaintiff’s lawyer Paa Kwesi Abaidoo during interactions with the media also explained that they can only file a memoranda of issues after the defences have been filed.
“You must have heard concerns raised by me this morning when I sort the leave of the court to discard the notion that the plaintiffs are the ones orchestrating a delay in the hearing of this case. My reason for doing so was very clear.
“At the ordinary sitting of the Supreme Court on July 17, 2024, my contention was upheld by the Supreme Court that until the defendants filed their statement of the case, we, the plaintiffs, will not be in a position to distil issues for the filing of a memorandum of issues.
“You will agree with me that this morning’s application by the first defendant was to the effect that they have not filed and require some extension of time to file, meaning that the delay is not orchestrated by us and so I don’t know why someone should give the impression that it is us delaying the process.”
In the wake of parliamentary proceedings to pass an anti-lgbtq+ bill championed by some members from both the majority and minority caucuses in parliament, Richard Sky, a legal practitioner sought legal action to prevent the passage of the bill. According to him, the bill when passed would be an infringement on human rights.
Besides Richard, other stakeholder organisations have also objected to the passage of the bill.
Meanwhile, traditional rulers and some religious groups have welcomed the bill and have been advocating for its passage.
Source: Dehotpress
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