The Supreme Court has ordered the lawyers of Richard Sky, the Plaintiff in one of the two cases challenging the passage of the LQBTG+ Bill to file a fresh motion by May 17.
The panel of five chaired by Chief Justice Gertrude Sackey Torkornoo has also directed them to file fresh supporting affidavits and statements of the case.
The order of the apex Court was after the lawyers of the Plaintiff led by Paa Kwesi Abaidoo filed two separate applications seeking leave to amend one of their reliefs and another to file a supplementary affidavit to their application for interlocutory injunction.
While Attorney General Godfred Yeboah Dame opposed to the request for leave to file a supplementary affidavit, lawyers of the Speaker of Parliament led by Thaddeus Sory urged that a fresh motion paper rather be filed to clean the processes.
EIB Network’s Legal Affairs Correspondent, Murtala Inusah, who is at the Supreme Court is reporting that the Plaintiff and his lawyers have up to May 17, 2024, to file, while the matter has been adjourned indefinitely.
Arguments
Paa Kwesi Abaidoo, Counsel for Richard Sky, submitted that his client had two applications both seeking to leave to file processes.
The first application, he said, was to seek leave of the apex court to amend one of their reliefs for interlocutory injunction.
The second application, he said, was to ask for the permission of the Court to file a supplementary affidavit.
Lawyer for the Speaker of Parliament, Thaddeus Sory, objected to that first request for amendment amidst a hot exchange with the Chief Justice, Gertrude Torkornoo, who was the chair of the panel.
But, the objection was eventually dismissed by the panel as “unnecessary.”
Mr Sory, however, did not opposed to the other leg of the request seeking leave to file a supplementary, he rather urged the Court to direct the Plaintiff to file a fresh motion paper that would reflect all the changes.
The Attorney General, Godfred Yeboah Dame on the other hand did not opposed to the request to amend a relief but opposed to the prayer for leave to file a supplementary.
The panel which also included Justice Mariama Owusu, Justice Prof Henrietta Mensa-Bonsu, Justice Ernest Gaewu, and Justice Yaw Darko Asare ordered for fresh processes to be filed by May 17.
The Court said the Respondents have seven days to also file their processes after the Plaintiff had filed his fresh motion papers.
Amanda Odoi’s case
In the other case filed by a researcher at the University of Cape Coast, Dr Amanda Odoi, the apex court has directed the Speaker to re-file his application for supplementary affidavits within 7 days.
The Supreme Court while making that directive urged Counsel to be mindful of the choice of words deployed as it was unhappy with the wording of the initial one.
Reliefs sought
Among the reliefs sought is an order restraining the Speaker of Parliament and the Clerk to Parliament from presenting The Human and Sexual Values Bill, 2024 to the President of the Republic for his assent.
The Plaintiff is also asking the Court for an order restraining the President of the Republic from assenting to The Human and Sexual Values Bill, 2024, as such action will directly contravene the Constitutional safeguards of the liberties and rights of Ghanaians.
“An injunction barring any attempts to enforce the provisions of The Human Sexual Rights and Family Values Bil 2024, particularly those criminalizing same-sex relationships and related advocacy efforts,” he asked.
The two cases have been adjourned sine die (indefinitely).
Source: Ghana/Starrfm.com.gh/Murtala Inusah
