{"id":108465,"date":"2025-12-25T17:03:34","date_gmt":"2025-12-25T17:03:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=108465"},"modified":"2025-12-25T17:03:34","modified_gmt":"2025-12-25T17:03:34","slug":"5-year-term-will-be-harsher-on-presidents-not-kinder-says-constitution-review-chair","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=108465","title":{"rendered":"5-year term will be harsher on presidents, not kinder, says Constitution Review Chair"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n \t<\/i> Read Time:<\/span>3 Minute, 8 Second <\/div>\n\n <\/div>
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Chairman of the Constitution Review Committee, Prof Henry Kwasi Prempeh, says proposals to extend Ghana\u2019s presidential term from four years to five are not designed to make life easier for presidents.<\/p>\n

He said this will make the job more challenging and more demanding.<\/p>\n

Speaking on Joy News on December 25, Mr Prempeh explained that the committee\u2019s work showed that the current four-year term creates serious management and timing problems at the start of a new administration. <\/p>\n

\u201cSo you come in, you are supposed to appoint everybody. The new Council of State has to be convened before you appoint; consult them, then appoint. So it takes forever,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He noted that the committee identified early delays as a recurring problem. \u201cAnd so we sorted out some of those things right to free up time so that this management issue doesn\u2019t happen,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Beyond administrative challenges, Prof Prempeh said comparative evidence strongly influenced the committee\u2019s thinking. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe also gathered evidence that actually, Ghana is among a dwindling number of countries that still do four years, especially new democracies and in Africa,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He pointed out that the regional and global trend has shifted. \u201cMost do five. In our region, some do seven. Benin and Liberia, I think, do six years, Nigeria and Ghana, do four years\u201d he said, adding that \u201cwe are always matching together lockstep.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to him, the data was precise. \u201cWe realised that the evidence we\u2019re gathering was that the global norm now has shifted from four to five in presidential systems, and that in our own region, five is the norm,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Mr Prempeh said the committee accepted that no single number is perfect. \u201cSince any number is arbitrary, then let\u2019s be guided by comparative best practice,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He explained that the five-year proposal was not about generosity to incumbents. \u201cIf the world is moving towards five, then maybe makes sense five, then makes a good number actually to use,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Addressing concerns about longer tenure, he said the logic of voter behaviour was central to the proposal. <\/p>\n

\u201cPeople tell us, Oh, when their term is coming to an end, oh, give us another term. We didn\u2019t have enough time,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

But he argued that voters already treat four years differently. \u201cA Ghanaian voter might accept that four years is not enough and give you a second term to finish your work,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He stressed that five years changes that calculation. \u201cBut if you have five years, it is going to be difficult to convince a voter that five years was not enough,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

From the committee\u2019s perspective, he said, the longer term raises the bar for performance. \u201cSo our thinking is that actually five years is tough on the incumbent, and may very well lead to a result where fewer people get a second term,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Mr Prempeh was blunt about voter expectations. \u201cIf you have not performed well in five years, Ghanaians are not really going to entertain the thought of letting you stay,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He added that the current system has created an unhealthy pattern. \u201cThe four, four was becoming like a tradition, like everybody gets eight,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Under a five-year system, he believes that pattern could change. \u201cThis time, we may be getting more presidents getting five,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He dismissed fears of automatic ten-year presidencies. \u201cSo it\u2019s not like you just multiply five by two and say, hey, 10 years, there is too much,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

According to him, winning a second term under a five-year presidency would be far from easy. \u201cNo, the 10 is going to be difficult to get,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"5-yearChairman of the Constitution Review Committee, Prof Henry Kwasi Prempeh, says proposals to extend Ghana\u2019s presidential term from four years to five are not designed to make life easier for presidents.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_2277560469115098_106292521332774":"","twitter_aToxNzczMzI3Njk4OTg4ODUxMjAxOw==_1773327698988851200":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[14303,1966,1883,10,9,14501],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-108465","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-constitution-review-committee","category-hp-news-6","category-national","category-politics","category-popular","category-prof-h-kwasi-prempeh"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108465","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=108465"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108465\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=108465"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=108465"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=108465"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}