BY VALENTIA TETTEH
The Majority Leader and Leader of Government Business, Mahama Ayariga, has said the delay in the passage of the Human Sexual Rights and Family Values Bill is largely due to ongoing considerations to incorporate community service as part of the penalties under the proposed legislation.
Speaking during a leadership engagement with the Parliamentary Press Corps in Parliament, Mr. Ayariga explained that some Members of Parliament believe certain offences under the bill should attract community service rather than custodial sentences.
“I don’t want to call it the anti-LGBTQ bill, it is the Human Sexual and Family Values Bill,” he stated.
According to him, Parliament is currently prioritising the proposed Community Service Bill being championed by the Interior Ministry to help address the growing challenge of prison congestion in the country.
Mr. Ayariga argued that imprisonment for some minor offences often worsens criminal behaviour instead of reforming offenders.
“Sometimes, for offences that really should not send somebody to prison for two years, three years or five years, somebody steals a fowl and then you send him to prison. By the time he comes out, he becomes a well-prepared criminal because of the conditions in prison,” he said.
He noted that the government spends more resources keeping such offenders in prison than the actual value of the crimes committed.
“We spend more money feeding the person and paying prison officers to supervise them than the cost of what was stolen,” he added.
The Majority Leader explained that the proposed Community Service Bill would provide alternative punishments for some categories of offences and create the legal basis for amendments to the Family Values Bill.
“So, that is what actually delayed the consideration of the bill because we want to incorporate that in it. We are prioritising the Community Service Bill so that immediately it is passed, there is a basis for some amendments in the Family Values Bill to include community service as part of the penalties,” Mr. Ayariga explained.
He maintained that Parliament remains committed to considering the Human Sexual Rights and Family Values Bill once the necessary legislative framework is in place.
