[2024]DLSC17810 • December 18, 2024 • Supreme Court •
DR. AMANDA ODOI vs. THE SPEAKER OF PARLIAMENT &THE ATTORNEY GENERAL
The case arose from the introduction and passage of the Human Sexual Rights and Family Values Bill, 2024, a private members' bill in Parliament, which sought to proscribe LGBTQ+ activities and related matters. The Plaintiff challenged the constitutional validity of the Bill, alleging that the Speaker of Parliament failed to perform his non-discretionary duty under Article 108 of the 1992 Constitution to provide an opinion on whether the Bill imposed a charge on the Consolidated Fund or other public funds, thus rendering the legislative process unconstitutional.
read moreJUDGMENT ADJEI-FRIMPONG, JSC: Introduction My Lords, a while ago, we delivered this Court's unanimous decision in the case of RICHARD SKY VRS THE PARLIAMENT & ATTORNEY-GENERAL, Writ No. J1/09/2024 (RICHARD SKY). That case, on account of the reliefs sought therein, spanned a broader subject spectrum. Nonetheless, it arose from the same factual background and also gave rise to a quest almost the same as what is to be seen in this case. By reason of the commonality of facts and the similarity of issue(s) in both suits, the option of delivering a composite judgment to cover both suits was on table to consider. We have however decided to deliver a separate reasoning for this case for some material considerations which we wish to put on record. First, the parties in the suits are not exactly the same. Whereas, in Richard Sky, the Plaintiff is obviously different and the House of Parliament itself was joined as a Defendant, here the Speaker is joined as 1st Defendant and the reliefs c...