Mahama Third Term Bid Justified But His Fidelity is to the Constitution

Following the suspension of the Chief Justice in accordance with article 146 of the 1992 Constitution of Ghana, leading members of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) has been finding no sleep. Several conjectures were raised against President Mahama including a third term bid to remain in office as President of Ghana.

Just yesterday, 6th April, 2025, the NPP minority held a demonstration raising red flags about the suspension of the Chief Justice, Gertrude Araba Esaaba Sackey Torkornoo. They accused the President of interfering with the judiciary and by doing so, he seeks to remain in power beyond his constitutional term limit.

The current constitutional arrangement allows a person to occupy the highest office of the land for only two terms of 4 years each. Article 66(1) provides as follows; “A person elected as President shall, subject to clause (3) of this article, hold office for a term of four years beginning from the date on which he is sworn in as President.” The Constitution proceeded to add in 66(2) that; “A person shall not be elected to hold office as President of Ghana for more than two terms.”

These constitutional provisions have been observed adequately by President Jerry John Rawlings, President John Agyekum Kufour, and President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo. President John Dramani Mahama will not be different because he believes in the law.

If President Nana Addo - who many describe as power drunk and sidestepping the Constitution to do things his way - handed over after two terms, why will a gentleman like President Mahama do otherwise? If President Mahama were to be power drunk, he would have done everything within his power to remain in office after losing his second term bid in 2016 but he gladly handed over. Clearly the NPP’s accusations of a third term bid are not justified though President Mahama’s performance in office justified same.

The President has received three petitions seeking the removal of the Chief Justice. He proceeded to do what is right by following the constitutional process as dictated by article 146(1) (2) and (6) of the Constitution. The provisions are reproduced below.

146(1) A Justice of the Superior Court or a Chairman of the Regional Tribunal shall not be removed from office except for stated misbehaviour or incompetence or on ground of inability to perform the functions of his office arising from infirmity of body or mind.

146(2) A Justice of the Superior Court of Judicature or a Chairman of the Regional Tribunal may only be removed in accordance with the procedure specified in this article.

146(6) Where the petition is for the removal of the Chief Justice, the President shall, acting in consultation with the Council of State, appoint a committee consisting of two Justices of the Supreme Court, one of whom shall be appointed chairman by the President, and three other persons who are not members of the Council of State, nor members of Parliament, nor lawyers.

The NPP and their allies have never been able able to prove that President Mahama did not follow the constitutional procedure as reproduced above. The frivolous accusation of a third term bid is to divert the attention of Ghanaians from their misdeeds. It was meant to set the citizens against the president because the NPP know he has the citizens’ support to recover the loot they packed under their beds.

But why? Was it not the same article 146 that President Nana Addo relied on to remove the former Electoral Commissioner, Madam Charlotte Osei and her two deputies, Amadu Sulley and Georgina Opoku Amankwaa? Did he not use the same article to remove three justices of the High Court namely, Justice Ayisi Addo, Justice Uuter Paul Dery, and Justice Mustapha Habib Logoh? In all of these, the NDC never accused President Nana Addo of attempting to stay in power in perpetuity. If the NPP do not intend blackmail, then I wonder what their real intentions were.

Aside the two instances stated above, the current Minority Chief Whip, Frank Annor Dompreh and Richard Nyamah had in 2014 petitioned President Mahama under article 146 to remove the Commission for Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) boss, Madam Lauretta Lamptey. The President obliged and followed due process and finally Madam Lamptey was removed from office. Frank Annor Dompreh and the NPP were happy.

What has changed today such that those who used article 146 the most - to remove public office holders as defined under it - to suddenly cry foul over President Mahama’s use of same to suspend the Chief Justice? Funny!

The fear of the NPP minority is not justified and must be thrown to the dogs. Were they expecting the President to throw away the petions without due process? That will be a betrayal of his Presidential oath to protect and preserve the laws of Ghana and will qualify for impeachment.

The suspended Chief Justice was very clear at a forum that; “no matter how many noises are made, the law is the law.” She proceeded to add; “but I am quite sure that Ghana as a society is not looking for Chief Justices that bend and give them something other than law and therefore here I am, everyone gets the law.” The NPP gave her a lot of applause for these statements.

The President is simply complying with the law by giving the petitioners, the Chief Justice and all Ghanaians the law as provided for in article 146 of the Constitution. For the NPP to spin this and callously raise a third term bid allegation must be condemned. This must not generate any hullabaloo at all.

The President believes in the law and will not allow parochialists to force him to sidestep the Constitution so that their interest will be served. The law is the law and President Mahama will give nothing other than the law to the Chief Justice, to the petioners, and to all of us including the NPP noisy democrats. Under President Mahama, “everyone gets the law.”