The Supreme Court in Accra, Ghana, on Wednesday, May 8, 2024. (Ernest Ankomah/Bloomberg)
Ghana’s Supreme Court upheld a 64-year-old law that criminalizes sodomy, saying the statute is constitutional, while it continues to ponder the fate of even-harsher anti-LGBTQ legislation.
A seven-member panel unanimously dismissed an application by University of Ghana Law School lecturer Prince Obiri-Korang challenging the constitutionality of the law, Accra-based radio station Citi FM reported. Obiri-Korang had argued that the law violates the right to privacy, discrimination and personal liberties.
Ghana’s constitution makes it a crime for any person to have “unnatural carnal knowledge,” which includes anal sex and sex with animals. The court will make available the full reasoning for the judgment at a later date at its registry, Citi FM said.
The top court is also currently conducting hearings on applications submitted by two citizens challenging the constitutionality of a proposed anti-LGBTQ bill, which calls for three years imprisonment for people who identify as LGBTQ.
The court on July 17 deferred a separate ruling on an injunction blocking parliament from sending the bill to President Nana Akufo-Addo for his signature. It will weigh in on that matter once it’s decided on the constitutionality of the bill.
Akufo-Addo’s endorsement is the last step required for the legislation to become law.
If endorsed, the punitive law may jeopardize $3.8 billion of World Bank funding over the next six years, according to Ghana’s Finance Ministry. It could also derail a $3 billion bailout program from the International Monetary Fund and hurt the country’s efforts to restructure $20 billion of external debt, it said.