To him, the bill is misleading and based on speculations, adding he cannot fathom arguments that homosexuality is not a fundamental human right.

“That Bill is absolutely unnecessary. They are wasting everybody’s time. The Bill is saying don’t ever associate if you are persons of the same gender and I cannot support such a situation,” he fumed in an interview on Accra-based Citi FM.

He emphasised the constitution guarantees freedom of association and that cannot be curtailed by any means.

“It is in the constitution that you can make a choice to associate with anybody you want. Why are you saying we cannot associate?

“The Bill speculates that if I associate with another man, the purpose is for us to have sex. We don’t make laws based on speculation,” he said.

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Meanwhile, the Constitutional, Legal, and Parliamentary Affairs Committee on Thursday, commenced a public hearing on various memoranda received on the bill.

With about 160 of those memos for and against the passage of the bill from religious bodies and other groups, the committee offered an opportunity for representatives to appear before it.

But reacting to the hearing, Mr Ndebugre, who is also a private legal practitioner, described it as a waste of time, stating “look at the time they have wasted today. It is on our charge, and it is on the charge of the Consolidated Fund.”

Eight Members of Parliament jointly submitted a private bill to push for the criminalisation of LGBTQI+ activities in the country.

The bill, which they term as a Bill on the Promotion of Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values, was presented to Speaker Alban Bagbin on June 29, 2021.

The proponents want the promotion, advocacy, funding, and acts of homosexuality to be criminalised in the country.

According to him, the Bolgatanga East MP must not see the petition as a condemnation but an avenue for him to come clean and prove his case.

“The complaint doesn’t mean you have been condemned. You just go to GLC and make your arguments and then the matter will be determined. Only when you go there and there is evidence of bias, then he can start complaining.

“But I think that at this stage it is premature. I will advise Ayine to try and go to the Disciplinary Committee and make his case. It is in his interest to go and prove the Chief Justice wrong,” he said on Accra-based Citi FM.

Justice Anin-Yeboah has petitioned the GLC to investigate and apply necessary sanctions against Dr Ayine, over comments he allegedly made against the Supreme Court.

Dr Ayine, during a discussion on Presidential Election Petitions and their impact on Africa’s Democracy, organised by the Centre for Democratic Development, Ghana in May is also said to have questioned the independence of the Judiciary.

A petition the NDC has described as a deliberate intimidation, hence demands an immediate withdrawal.

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Reacting to this position, the Private Legal Practitioner added: “I am not saying that the Chief Justice is right or wrong. All I am saying is that the Chief Justice made a complaint and as far as I am concerned, he is the right person to make the complaint because the statement was against the judiciary and he is the head of the judiciary so he has to come forward with the complaint.”

Meanwhile, Dr Ayine in an 11-page document responding to the petition said the comment in question was an academic assessment of the specific judges who sat on the 2020 election petition and how they discharged their duties.

He maintained he stands by his comments, adding his comments did not in any way attack the reputation of the judicial service.