Majority Leader Mahama Ayariga has distanced both his office and the government from matters relating to the Proper Human Sexual Rights and Family Values Bill, stating on the floor of Parliament that the legislation is not government business.
Responding to concerns raised in the House over the programming of a motion on alleged LGBTQ content in teacher manuals on Friday, February 6, 2026, Mr. Ayariga said the bill is a private members’ bill and therefore not the responsibility of the government or the Majority leadership.
“It is not government’s business and certainly not my business as Majority Leader,” he told the House, adding that the sponsors of the bill should engage the Office of the Speaker to address any issues surrounding it.
The Majority Leader further indicated that, to the best of his knowledge, the bill had already been passed by the previous Parliament but was not assented to by former President Nana Akufo-Addo.
However, Constitutional Law experts have argued that Ghana’s constitutional and parliamentary procedures provide that bills which are passed but not assented to before the end of a Parliament do not carry over into a new one.
They explain that under the 1992 Constitution and Parliamentary processes, the legislative process of a bill is tied to the lifespan of the Parliament that considered it, and any bill that has not completed the process, including presidential assent, lapses upon the dissolution of that Parliament.
Further to the argument has been that Parliamentary Standing Orders similarly do not provide for the automatic transfer of unassented bills into a new Parliament.
The Majority Leader’s remarks came in response to a submission by the Member of Parliament for Old Tafo, Hon. Vincent Ekow Assafuah, who had raised concerns over the failure to programme a motion he filed with the Minority leadership on January 20, 2026. The motion sought a half-hour discussion to investigate alleged LGBTQ tendencies in teacher manuals distributed to basic and senior high schools.
The motion was subsequently referred by the Speaker to the Education Committee, but it was not captured in the Business Statement for the week, prompting concerns about the level of priority being given to the matter.
Despite these concerns, the Majority Leader maintained that the issue remains outside the scope of government business and should be handled by the sponsors of the bill.
