Supreme Court can determine anti-gay bill case in a month or two – Kofi Adams

3 News

Sun 12th May, 2024 08:28

Buem Lawmaker Kofi Adams believes that the Supreme Court can determine the anti-gay bill case within one or two months.

To him, all the works on this bill have been done by stakeholders including Parliament. The Supreme Court, he explained, would have to look at the issues and determine whether the bill was properly passed or not.

Doing this should not take more than two months, he said.

“The Supreme Court can determine this case in a month or two…because we have gone through all the processes already,” he said on the Key Points on TV3 on Saturday, May 11.

He was reacting to a comment by Private legal practitioner Martin Kpebu who had asked Ghanaians to give the Supreme Court some time to determine the case.

Kpebu doubted that the apex court would finish hearing the case against the Anti-LGBTQI bill within seven months.

If the Supreme Court is unable to hear the case within seven months, then it means that the bill will die with this 8th parliament on 6th January 2025.

He said “The timelines are very tight because 6th January 2025 is very close, barely seven months.

Anti-gay bill likely to bring a lot of headaches – Kpebu

“If you look at what goes into coming out with a decision in such a case, I have my doubts that we should be able to complete this in due course, seven months is a bit tight. It is likely that this case won’t be concluded within seven months, we are going on a legal vacation, 31st of July is the end of the legal year so August, September, October, and two weeks in November are part of our legal break.

The apex court on Wednesday, May 8 held the view that the documents presented to it by the Speaker of Parliament contained intemperate language. Hence they have directed the lawyers of the Speaker to file new documents.

Prior to adjournment, the court had dismissed the preliminary objection by the lawyer of the Speaker of Parliament, Thaddeus Sory in the case against the anti-LGBTQI bill.

When the court sat to hear the case which was carried live on television, Lawyers for broadcast journalist Richard Sky who filed the case, sought to amend one of the reliefs on the motion for injunction.

Lawyer for the Speaker of Parliament Thaddeus Sory objected to this.

He argued that he had already indicated in documents filed earlier that his side objected to how that relief had been couched and so allowing them to amend it would defeat his objection.

After hearing the arguments, the Justices of the Apex  Court chaired by Chief Justice Gertrude Torkoornoo ruled that “our considered view is that the preliminary objection is unnecessary and does not seek to assist any process before this court. Every party has an inherent right to present the appropriate formulation of their reliefs or other process before the court to enable the court to determine the real matters in controversy. The objection is dismissed.”

Ghanaian Journalist, Richard Dela Sky, and Researcher Dr. Amanda Odoi are set to appear before the Supreme Court, Wednesday, May 8, 2024, to move their respective lawsuits challenging the passage of the anti-LGBTQ Bill.

The post Supreme Court can determine anti-gay bill case in a month or two – Kofi Adams first appeared on 3News.