President John Dramani Mahama has labelled the proposal by the Constitution Review Committee as revolutionary and radical.
According to President Mahama, some of the recommendations are revolutionary and radical, but in the interest of Ghana’s democracy.
President Mahama stressed that the recommendations are necessary to strengthen governance and restore public confidence in democratic institutions, noting that several countries in the subregion are experiencing coups.
Speaking after receiving the final report from the Committee in Accra on Monday, December 22, Mahama stated, “I think that many of the recommendations you’ve made are quite revolutionary. Some are quite radical, but I think it’s in the interest of our democracy”.
“It is important for us to let our citizens know that democratic governance is still better than any other form of governance.”
He further added, “You were carefully chosen for your integrity, your credibility, and we haven’t had the experience of constitutional review committees before and the fact that at the end of it we had been unable to agree how to move the process forward”.
President Mahama further revealed plans for a nonpartisan committee for the implementation process starting early next year.
He added, “This time we said let’s choose the committee very carefully, so that it’s a committee that Ghanaians have trust in, so that when the report comes it would be nonpartisan, it would not have been influenced by any political interest, so that it would make it easier for all of us to come together and move the process forward,” he noted.
“As soon as we resume early next year, we’re moving from the constitutional review process into the implementation process, and so early next year we’ll announce an implementation committee”, he added.
Meanwhile, the Constitution Review Committee has recommended a one-year extension of Ghana’s presidential term.
The Committee proposed that Ghana’s presidential term be moved from the current four-year tenure to a five-year term to enable governments more time to govern.
Professor Henry Kwasi Prempeh, the Chairman of the Committee Presenting the Committee’s report to President John Mahama on Monday, December 22, and made this known.
According to the Chair of the committee, they were persuaded by submissions from several eminent persons inculding former president.
He revealed that they argued that the four years is insufficient for meaningful governance, adding that the committee has noted the global standard for presidential tenure is five years.
They cited concern that the President spends about six months settling into office and nearly a year campaigning, noting that a portion of a four-year term is lost to administrative transition and election year.
Prof. Prempeh explained, “The claim was that the President spends about six months settling into office and nearly a year campaigning”.
He, however, revealed that the committee could not find a place for a third term for a president.
According to the Chair of the Committee, nobody really seemed to like the idea of a third term.
Professor H Kwasi Prempeh stated, “We couldn’t find a place for a third term; nobody really seemed to like it, there was really no demand for it”.
He further noted that even the President, John Dramani Mahama, himself was not in favour of it.
The chair added that the committee mainly focus on improving governance efficiency.