Former Chief Justice (CJ) and Distinguished Fellow of the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA), Sophia Abena Boafoaa Akuffo, says the powers of the President must be subjected to checks to prevent them from becoming unfettered.
She says Ghana’s constitutional framework has created anomalies that must be addressed to strengthen its democracy.
According to her, “Presidents should have powers, but they cannot be unfettered powers.”
Her comments follow a press conference held by the IEA in Accra on Wednesday, September 2, 2026, to present the Institute’s position on the recommendations of the Prof. Henry Kwasi Prempeh-led Constitution Review Committee (CRC) and government’s position on them.
At the press conference, the IEA called for significant cuts to the President’s appointing powers and stronger separation of powers among the three arms of government.
The Institute also rejected the proposal to extend the presidential and parliamentary terms from four to five years, a recommendation government has accepted.
Madam Akuffo says operating the 1992 Constitution over the years has exposed weaknesses that must be corrected to move the democracy to the next level.
“In many ways, our Constitution has worked out for us over the years of its existence; it has created a lot of anomalies which we must correct to move our democracy on to the next level for sustainability because people are getting fed up,” she states.
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