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18.03.2018 Politics

Ghanaian Youth Rubbish Prof. H.kwesi Prempeh's Stance Against Former President Mahama's Call For Scrapping Of Age Limit For Presidents

18.03.2018 LISTEN
By Andrews Krow

Many young people who contributed via text messages on Citi FM's "Eye Witness News" discussion on former President Mahama's call for the scrapping of age for Presidents. All the callers who contributed to the discussion commended the former President for stating their position on the Commonwealth platform.

Prof. J.H Prempeh contributing to the discussion rubbished President Mahama's call stating that the problems confronting this nation are too enormous and must be tackled first before bringing on board discussion on presidential age limit. According to Prof. Prempeh, the idea of making politics attractive to the youth should be discarded. He said the retirement age limit for public officers is what must be addressed immediately.

Speaking at the Commonwealth African Summit in London, Mr Mahama cited the Ghanaian situation to buttress his assertion. He said in Ghana young people enter Parliament very young but restricted from contesting for the presidency. On his twitter handle, he wrote -

"In my country, young people are in Parliament and contesting other positions but not the presidency. Our constitution says you must be 40 to contest to be president. Some advocacy has started for age restriction to be removed or reduced and I support it"

Dr Wilson Asihene a renowned Ghanaian Surgeon based in Canada contributing to the discussion online commended the former President for bringing the issue on board for national discussion. He described Prof. Prempeh's position on the matter as infantile and unfortunate coming from a respected person in society. Dr Asihene said internationally, youth organisations are playing leading role in campaigns to lower the age of candidacy for political office. He said these youth organisations make a strong case that full political participation rights include the right to become a candidate, as well as the right to vote, and both process according to him, presumes careful thought and consideration on the part of the citizen. He said he expected Prof. Prempeh and his organization to lead this crusade. Madam Felicia Botwe who also commented on the issue argued that lower candidate age thresholds will lead to greater youth participation in our local politics. She said any move to actualise President Mahama's proposal is essentially a move targeted at broadening the potential candidate choices that will be available for future generation of voters and it will be one more step towards ensuring a broader reflection of society on the ballot paper. She questioned why our brilliant young parliamentarians are being denied the opportunity of carrying their God-given talent onto the presidential space.

Austria has a presidential candidacy age threshold of 35, Slovania and France both set the age of candidacy at 18. In the United States the constitution clearly spells out three age requirements for public officers. First, the President and the Vice must be 35 years old or older, senator 30 years and a member of House must be 25 years. The age limit if not scrapped as proposed by former President Mahama, would damp the effort of genius, and of laudable ambition. William Pitt the Younger served as British prime minister at the age of 24, and Lord Bolingbroke, served in Parliament in the early 20s. William Jennings Bryam was the youngest major party candidate in a general election. Bryan was just 35 when he opposed William McKinley in the 1896 election. We can also mention Macron.

For a director of a reputable organization to rubbish such an important issue is problematic. I don't think the former President raised the issue to score a political point as Prof and his team may assume. Mr Kwadwo Mpiani a stalwart of the NPP also supported the proposal and has called for a serious national debate.

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