TO ASSENT OR NOT TO ASSENT—THE POWERS AND RIGHTS PROVIDED BY THE 1992 CONSTITUTION OF GHANA TO THE PRESIDENT

1. The power to make laws is vested in Parliament which shall be exercised by bills passed by Parliament as set out in Article 106 (1-14). These bills may come in the name of the President which are government sponsored by implication or introduced by an MP or group of them, and this is qualified as a Private Members’ Bill.

2. ⁠Depending on the turn of events, the Legislative Powers of Parliament shall lapse after a Bill has been passed and assented to by the President, except, where Parliament decides to postpone the operation of the law after it has been gazetted.

3. ⁠The President has a first option of refusal to assent to a Bill under Sub-clause 7 of Article 106 of the 1992 Constitution. The aforementioned Sub-clause, read jointly with Article 90 of the Constitution, imposes a duty on the President to refer the bill (he refused to assent to) to the Council of State (CoS) for consideration. The referral is reasonably accompanied by a Memo (statement) setting forth the issues, amendments, changes, etc. so proposed by the President for the consideration by the CoS.

4. ⁠The CoS proceeds to consider the referred Bill within the remit of Article 90(1-5), and ultimately transmit the considered bill with an accompanied certificate to the President for further action. The President may forward the considered bill back to Parliament without any amendments or cause for such changes, if there are any. 

5. ⁠The Second Option provided by the 1992 Constitution of Ghana is contained in Sub-clause 8 of Article 106. This provides that, where the President indicates his refusal to assent to a Bill, he SHALL so state his reasons in a Memo to Parliament within 14 days after his refusal. The accompanied Memo may provide further details of the President’s proposed changes, amendments to any part of the bill, it’s entirety, as the case may be. 

6. ⁠Sub-clause 9 of Article 106 mandates Parliament to reconsider the bill within the laid down procedure in Article 106 of the Constitution or as the rules of Parliament shall so allow.

7. ⁠Where a bill is reconsidered as proposed by the President, Sub-clause 10 of Article 106 provides that Parliament shall pass a Resolution which must be supported by votes of 2/3 of Members of Parliament. And when the resolution is passed under Sub-clause 10, the President SHALL assent to the Bill without an option of a refusal. Note!! No such opportunity of refusal again has been provided by the constitution.

In effect, the President has two options after the LGBTQ+ Bill has been submitted to him to assent to: Either he Assents to it within 7 days or He refuses. If he refuses, he has an option of referring the bill to the Council of State or back to Parliament for reconsideration. This is my raw reading of the 1992 Constitution. It is opened for additions or subtractions. 

Kudus Gbeadese I. S.

(Learning Student, GSL-Makola)

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