Ghana’s Supreme Court on Wednesday dismissed two challenges aimed at overturning a controversial law that significantly restricts LGBTQ rights, which was passed by lawmakers earlier this year.
The Sexual Rights and Family Values Bill, approved by parliament in February, has drawn international criticism, despite enjoying broad public support in the conservative West African nation.
The proposed law imposes prison sentences of six months to three years for engaging in LGBTQ-related sexual activity.
However, the bill will only become law once it is ratified by outgoing President Nana Akufo-Addo, who has yet to announce his decision. Akufo-Addo, who is set to step down on January 7 after two terms in office, had stated he would wait for the Supreme Court’s ruling on the bill’s constitutionality before making his final decision.
“It will be premature for this court to exercise its interpretive and enforcement jurisdiction to intervene. Consequently, the action fails,” judge Avril Lovelace-Johnson, head of the court’s seven-member panel said, reading its judgement.
“Until there is presidential assent to the bill, there is no act of which the Supreme Court will use its supervisory jurisdiction to overturn,” she added.
The court’s decision came after challenges were filed by Ghanaian broadcaster Richard Dela-Sky, who questioned the constitutionality of the bill, and university researcher Amanda OdSet.
The bill has faced criticism from several countries, including the United States, and has raised concerns within Ghana’s finance ministry, which warned that it could jeopardize billions of dollars in World Bank funding.