Ghana’s government has moved to extend the presidential term from four years to five, accepting one of the central recommendations of a constitutional review panel set up last year by President John Dramani Mahama.
Attorney-General and Justice Minister Dr Dominic Ayine announced the decision on Thursday at the Jubilee House in Accra, shortly after the Constitution Review Committee handed over its final report. He confirmed that government intends to extend the presidential term to give administrations more time to govern before facing the electorate again.
The current four year cycle, according to Dr Ayine, leaves little room for effective governance. He explained that the early months of any new administration are typically spent settling into office, while the final year is dominated almost entirely by campaign activity. A longer term, he argued, would give governments a more realistic window to design, roll out and evaluate policy before voters return to the polls.
The proposal to extend the presidential term will not apply to the presidency alone. Government also accepted a linked recommendation to stretch Parliament’s tenure from four to five years, so that lawmakers and the executive move through election cycles together rather than at staggered intervals. Ghana’s decision to extend the presidential term follows months of public hearings and submissions gathered by the review committee from across the country.
Alongside the term extension, the Constitution Review Committee, chaired by Professor H. Kwasi Prempeh, had proposed cutting the minimum age for presidential candidates from 40 to 30. Dr Ayine told journalists that government would rather settle on 35 as the new threshold, describing it as a middle ground between opening up the field to younger politicians and preserving a baseline of experience for the country’s highest office.
Government further endorsed a recommendation to shift presidential elections from December to the first week of November each election year. The change is designed to widen the gap between polling day and the constitutionally mandated inauguration date of 7 January, giving incoming administrations more breathing room to prepare for transition.
None of these reforms can take effect on the strength of Dr Ayine’s announcement alone. Ghana’s 1992 Constitution requires any amendment of this nature to pass through a national referendum, which is expected to be held in 2027. Until Ghanaians vote on the package, the current four year presidential and parliamentary terms remain in force. The referendum will effectively give voters the final say on whether to extend the presidential term at all.
The Constitution Review Committee’s report goes further than the term extension itself. Its recommendations, according to the government’s white paper, also touch on institutional arrangements and timelines for resolving election petitions, both areas that have drawn public debate in past election cycles.
Ghana has held onto an unbroken run of multiparty elections and peaceful transfers of power since returning to constitutional rule in 1992, a record that sets it apart in a West African neighbourhood that has seen repeated military takeovers in recent years. Any move to extend the presidential term will be watched closely by Ghanaians mindful of that record, as well as by neighbours weighing their own constitutional arrangements.
For now, attention shifts to how the proposed changes are communicated to the public ahead of the 2027 referendum. Civil society groups and opposition voices are likely to scrutinise the age threshold compromise and the rationale for a longer presidential term in the months ahead, particularly given how contentious term length debates have proven elsewhere on the continent.
Dr Ayine’s Thursday briefing marked the government’s clearest statement yet that it intends to extend the presidential term through the constitutional process rather than by any shortcut, tying the reform to a public vote instead of a parliamentary majority alone.
