May, 2024

The Accra High Court has dismissed an application filed by Mr. Rockson Nelson Dafeamekpor, Member of Parliament (MP) for South Dayi, for a mandamus order to compel the Speaker of Parliament and the President to take action on the Human Sexual Rights and Family Values Bill, dubbed the anti-LGBTQ bill within seven days.

The MP requested that the bill be sent to the President for approval as per Article 106 (7) of the Constitution and sought the court’s direction for the Speaker of Parliament to submit the bill to the President and for the President to accept the bill as presented by Parliament for approval.

The Court dismissed the application on the ground that there were injunction applications filed by private citizens pending before the Supreme Court, and the grant of the mandamus application will have direct implications on these injunction applications.

Implications:

A mandamus is a discretionary relief that compels a person or institution to perform their functions in accordance with the law. An injunction on the other hand is a form of equitable relief where a court mandates a party to either execute or abstain from executing a specific action.

The essential requirements for an order of mandamus were stated in the case of Republic v Chieftaincy Secretariat; Ex Parte Adansi Traditional Council [1968] GLR 736,

“before a court would make such an order of mandamus the applicant must satisfy four main conditions, namely:

1. That there was a duty imposed by the statute on which he relied,
2. That the duty was of a public nature
3. That there was a right in the applicant to enforce the performance of the duty and
4. That there had been a demand and a refusal to perform that public duty enjoined by statute.”