Allow live media coverage during the proceeding of anti-gay bill cases — Attorney-General to CJ

Ghana’s judiciary has been urged to permit live media coverage, including television and radio broadcasts, of ongoing legal proceedings challenging aspects of the country's widely debated anti-LGBTQ bill.

In a letter to the Chief Justice dated May 7, Attorney General Godfred Yeboah Dame formally requested that "the media (including radio and television) be given full access to the relevant courts to undertake coverage of all proceedings" related to four cases contesting the constitutionality of aspects of the Human Sexual Rights and Family Values Bill 2024.

Passed last February amid strong criticism from human rights groups, the bill seeks to broadly restrict advocacy of LGBTQ rights and related cultural activities.

But its opponents have launched legal challenges, arguing parts of the legislation infringe on civil liberties.

Two cases are before the Supreme Court, while two more are in the High Court, according to Dame.

With "the public interest in these cases...very high," he said live broadcasts will enhance "the transparency to be engendered by coverage of the proceedings," which "would be in the best interest of the administration of justice."

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has decided to delay his stance on the bill which is recently waiting assent until the cases have been ruled on.