President John Mahama has received the Constitutional Review Committee’s Report, which, among other recommendations, suggests extending Ghana’s four-year Presidential term to five years.
Professor Henry Kwasi Prempeh, Chairman of the Constitutional Review Committee, presented the report to the President at the Presidency in Accra.
The Committee, which the President inaugurated on 19th January, took 11 months to complete its work.
President Mahama, upon receiving the report, announced that they would establish an Implementation Committee early next year.
He noted that some Members of the Constitutional Review Committee would be invited to serve on the Implementation Committee to bring institutional memory.
“Our 1992 constitution has served us very well. I mean, it’s been the most durable constitution, but a time comes when you need to look at it and make some adjustments so that it can serve us for an even longer period going into the future,” the President said.
The President, who thanked members of the Constitutional Review Committee for the good job done, also urged them to take a rest after working so hard for so many months.
“You can enjoy your Christmas, and as soon as we resume early next year, we’re moving from the constitutional review process into the implementation process,” he said.
“And so take a rest now, but next year, we might call some of you again to form the Constitutional Review Implementation Committee.”
The President said for now, the government would study the report, saying “I’ve handed it over to the Legal Counsel and the Attorney-General to look at it, and we’ll see how to synchronise our views.
The President said many of the Committee’s recommendations were quite revolutionary, adding that some were radical, but he believed they were in the interest of democracy.
President Mahama said that, currently, across the West African sub-region, many countries are backsliding on their democratic and constitutional governance, and so this couldn’t have come at a better time.
“We, all the Afrobarometer reports, and all the other reports have shown that a lot of our citizens were beginning to lose faith in our democracy, and that is why it is important for us to let them know that democratic governance is still better than any other form of governance,” he said.
“You might be excited about the romanticism of military governments and all that, but in the end, it is democratic governments that unleash the creative potential of people.
“If you leave them free, able to express themselves and go about their businesses, it unleashes their creative potential, unlike where decisions have to be taken for everybody.”
President Mahama said the report had come at the right time, saying, “We will implement it in a bipartisan manner. All of us would come together and implement as many of the provisions as possible.”
Touching on the issue of the Council of State and the enormous powers of the President to make appointments, President Mahama said he believed that the Council of State should be given a bigger role in those appointments to enhance credibility in the people appointed to those positions.
He noted that, of course, the president would still sign the appointment letters, but the Council of State would proceed to identify the persons to be appointed.
“On behalf of the people of Ghana, you have done a great service to our nation, and you can be proud of yourselves,” he said.
The President said he did not want to keep the report a nuclear secret and would have to decide on a date to publish it so Ghanaians could know its contents.
Professor Henry Kwasi Prempeh, the Chairman of the Constitutional Review Committee, said the report proposed extending Ghana’s four-year Presidential term limits by one year to a five-year tenure.
Other members of the Committee are Justice Sophia Adinyira, a former Supreme Court Judge; Professor Kwame Karikari; Mrs Charlotte Osei; Dr Godwin Djokoto; Ibrahim Tanko Amidu; Dr Esi Ansah; and Dr Rainer Akumperigeya.
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