Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin
Speaker of Parliament, Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin, has defended his decision to urge Parliament to reconsider the controversial Human Sexual Rights and Family Values Bill, popularly known as the anti-LGBTQ+ Bill, insisting that the House retains the authority to revisit legislation even after it has been passed.
According to the Speaker, contrary to claims by some legal practitioners and commentators that Parliament becomes “functus officio” once a bill is read a third time and passed, the legislative process allows Parliament to review and correct legislation before it is transmitted to the President for assent.
Mr. Bagbin made the remarks when members of the Supreme Court’s 150th Anniversary Planning Committee paid a courtesy call on him at Parliament House.
The Speaker’s comments come amid criticism from sections of the public following his appeal to Parliament to reconsider the anti-LGBTQ+ Bill after concerns were raised about aspects of the legislation and its constitutional implications.
Addressing the issue, Mr. Bagbin explained that the passage of a bill does not automatically bring Parliament’s role to an end.
“Recent debates have seen some lawyers argue strongly that by the Constitution, once a law is passed on the floor of Parliament, Parliament is functus officio. That is not the law,” he stated.
He explained that after a bill is passed, Parliament undertakes what is known as the passage process before the legislation is presented to the President for assent.
According to him, this stage gives Parliament the opportunity to reflect on what it has passed and identify any inconsistencies, omissions or drafting errors that may have escaped attention during deliberations.
“That is why the Constitution does not prescribe any time limit within which Parliament must submit a passed bill to the President for assent,” he said.
Mr. Bagbin noted that on several occasions Parliament had detected errors in legislation after passage and subsequently returned to the House to rectify them through established parliamentary procedures.
He explained that Parliament could invoke what is known as a motion of rescission to reverse the decision to read a bill a third time and then subject the legislation to further consideration.
The Speaker described the mechanism as part of Parliament’s internal system of self-regulation and self-correction designed to ensure that laws sent to the President are accurate and constitutionally sound.
To buttress his argument, he disclosed that Parliament was preparing to use the same procedure in relation to the Ghana Investment Promotion Authority Bill, which was passed earlier this year.
“In fact, we are very soon going to use it in connection with the Ghana Investment Promotion Authority Bill, which was passed in March,” he revealed.
Mr. Bagbin further outlined the various stages that bills undergo after passage, including scrutiny by the Clerk to Parliament, gazetting processes and final review by the Speaker before they are presented to the President.
He said all bills are signed by the Clerk, while financial bills and private members’ bills are additionally submitted to the Speaker for examination.
“I have to go through it and make sure that everything is in order before I sign it and direct that it be presented to the President for assent,” he said.
The Speaker stressed that these constitutional and administrative safeguards demonstrate that Parliament’s responsibility over legislation does not end immediately after a third reading.
Beyond the legislative process, Mr. Bagbin used the occasion to call for broader discussions on constitutional and judicial reforms as the nation undertakes a review of its constitutional framework.
He expressed concern about the increasing number of cases being referred to the Supreme Court, warning that the trend risked turning the apex court into what he described as “an ordinary court of litigation.”
The Speaker urged stakeholders involved in the constitutional review process to consider reforms that would strengthen the country’s democratic institutions and preserve the distinct role of the Supreme Court.
By Ernest Kofi Adu, Parliament House