Reduce presidential term limit to 3years and allow limitless re-election — A-Plus
Member of Parliament for Gomoa Central, Kwame Asare Obeng, popularly known as A-Plus, has called for Ghana’s presidential term to be reduced to three years while allowing presidents to seek re-election without a constitutional limit.
Speaking on the Sunrise programme on 3FM on Friday, August 14, A-Plus opposed the Constitutional Review Committee’s proposal to extend the tenure of presidents and parliamentarians to five years if it is accompanied by term limits.
“Extending presidential and parliamentary terms to five years is a no-no... Reduce it to three years and remove term limits so you can contest as many times as you want,” he said.
He argued that presidents should be allowed to remain in office as long as they continue to enjoy the confidence of voters, rather than being restricted by a fixed number of terms.
“Akufo-Addo would be president by now; I don't support this five-year tenure proposal for presidents and parliamentarians,” he added.
His comments follow the government’s acceptance of the Constitutional Review Committee’s recommendation to extend Ghana’s presidential and parliamentary terms from four to five years.
Attorney-General and Minister for Justice, Dr Dominic Ayine, recently said the government had accepted the recommendation, while also disclosing that the proposed minimum age for presidential candidates would be reduced from 40 to 35.
“For the avoidance of doubt, this proposed amendment does not apply to the incumbent President,” he said.
The Constitutional Review Committee had proposed a five-year presidential term on the grounds that the existing four-year tenure was too short for governments to effectively implement their programmes.
However, the committee rejected the idea of introducing a third term for sitting presidents.
Chairperson of the committee, Professor H. Kwasi Prempeh, said during the presentation of its final report that the committee found little support for a third-term arrangement.
“We couldn’t find a place for a third term; nobody really seemed to like it, there was really no demand for it,” he said.
The committee also proposed reforms to the appointment of heads of state-owned enterprises and changes to the powers of the Attorney-General.
Prof Prempeh said some powers currently exercised by the Attorney-General should be transferred to an Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission, particularly in relation to corruption cases.
“ORAL will be done by some other body. We want to take some of the powers of the A-G and give them to an Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission,” he said.
Dr Ayine, however, said the government accepted the principle behind the proposal but did not believe the proposed change required a constitutional amendment.