Legal practitioner, Martin Luther Kpebu, has kicked against the Government’s position on the extension of the term of Presidents as proposed by the Constitutional Review Committee (CRC).
In its report, the CRC had proposed that the term of office for a President be extended from four to five years for two terms.
Presenting the Government’s position on the report on Thursday, July 30, 2026, Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Dr. Dominic Akuritinga Ayine, indicated that Government has accepted the proposal to extend the tenure from four to five years.
Reacting to the development on TV3’s KeyPoints on Saturday, August 1, 2026, the renowned lawyer asserted that this is the third time this proposal has come up, and it had failed in its two earlier attempts.
He expressed shock over why it has reappeared in the current report, saying President Mahama should have been the last person to pursue this agenda, looking at his past record and what happened to his attempt to seek reelection in 2016.
“In our history, in the constituents assembly, they voted on it, those who wanted five years lost. We come to the Prof. Fiadjoe Commission report, in his recommendation report, those who wanted five years lost. So it is surprising that this matter has made its way once again to the H. Kwesi Prempeh report and this time the President says we want to go for five years,” he stated.
According to Kpebu, President Mahama was kicked out in 2016 as a result of his poor performance, and allowing an underperforming President to serve two terms will be disastrous for the country, suggesting the President was misled into accepting that proposal by the Committee.
“…so, he himself (President Mahama), the one he completed was not good enough. Then Akufo-Addo came and made it worse. So now JM, we call this one his legacy term. So for 12 years, we were not happy with the leaders. JM is now coming to redeem himself. He has not finished the redemption. He’s barely gone halfway. So in actual fact, JM should not, to be very honest with you, be the one leading these charges,” he explained.
“I think JM was misled,” he stated emphatically. “He shouldn’t have done this because his own four years that we kicked him [out] in 2016, it was abysmal. So he should not be the one leading these charges,” Mr. Kpebu added.
The Constitution Review Committee (CRC) was established by President John Dramani Mahama in January 2025. The committee’s mandate was to review Ghana’s 1992 Constitution, identify areas that need updating, and propose amendments to align with the country’s evolving democratic and socio-economic realities.
The committee was chaired by Professor Henry Kwasi Prempeh, Executive Director of the Ghana Centre for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana), and comprised eight members, including legal and governance experts such as Justice Sophia Adinyira, Professor Kwame Karikari, and former Electoral Commission Chairperson Charlotte Osei.
The CRC’s report, titled “Transforming Ghana: From Electoral Democracy to Developmental Democracy,” was submitted to President Mahama on December 22, 2025, after nearly a year of nationwide consultations.
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