Martin Luther Kpebu, a renowned legal practitioner, has explained why the justification for the Government’s acceptance of the extension of tenure for Presidents from 4 to 5 years is unconvincing.
Government, in its Position Statement on the report of the Constitution Review Committee (CRC) presented by the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Dr. Dominic Akuritinga Ayine, on Thursday, July 30, 2026, indicated that Government has accepted the CRC’s proposal to extend the tenure from four to five years.
In the justification, Dr. Ayine explained that governments spend the first year of their tenure making appointments, and use the final year for electioneering campaigns, leaving them barely two years to formulate policies and initiate developments.
But, reacting to the Government’s position on TV3’s KeyPoints on Saturday, August 1, 2026, lawyer Kpebu said the Supreme Court has settled the matter on appointment of members into an administration, making that excuse to extend the term flawed.
According to him, the apex court has ruled that when a Government assumes power, the President can appoint people to serve in an acting capacity for a certain period before the Appointments Committee of Parliament conducts its vetting.
He cited other democratic jurisdictions where this is practiced, making the appointments excuse as a flimsy justification for the decision.
“This matter of forming government, the Supreme Court held in the J.H. Mensah vs the Attorney-General case that when a President comes into office and he appoints ministers, they have the right to act for a reasonable period before they are confirmed by Parliament,” he stated.
He continued that “the vetting can come later” saying “it’s not only in Ghana”, since the practice is common in advanced democracies such as the United States and the United Kingdom. “You go to the UK, they do the same, you go to the US, they do the same. So you’re appointed as an acting minister.”
He suggested that Ghana can decide on a number of months ministerial appointees can serve by convention, to address the appointments excuse this administration wants to use to extend presidential term.
“We can choose by convention whether we want to do six months. Some places, the US, in some instances you can act up to 300 days, that’s is close to a year, so it’s for us to choose. But my key point is that, the Supreme Court has settle this thing by saying that when a President appoints Ministers, they can act for a reasonable period.”
He added that opposition parties have shadow persons they appoint to handle certain sectors before coming into office, and any serious government should know the people they want to work with before assuming power, rather than waiting for close to a year to make that decision.
“In terms of knowing whom to appoint, that’s why in opposition, we have shadow spokespersons on Finance etc. Don’t come and saddle us with this. So the shadow people can start, that’s why there’s opportunity for reshuffle. Can you imagine Akufo-Addo in 10 years, we would have died,” Mr. Kpebu explained.
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.
The report proposed various reforms, including changing the date for presidential elections from December to November and reducing the minimum age to contest for president from 40 to 35 years.
Meanwhile, Martin Kpebu had earlier explained that President Mahama was misled into accepting that proposal, how Ghanaians kicked against the same proposals on two different occasions.
‘JM was misled’ into accepting extension of presidential term from 4 to 5 years – Kpebu
