Majority Leader Mahama Ayariga has dismissed claims by Minority Leader Alexander Kwamena Afenyo-Markin that President John Dramani Mahama’s recent nomination of justices to the Supreme Court is politically motivated.
He has stated that the President and the National Democratic Congress (NDC) are not pursuing any “third term agenda” as speculated by the Minority Leader.
Ayariga’s comments follow an assertion made by Afenyo-Markin, on Thursday, May 1, 2025, alleging that the nomination of the seven justices to the apex court by the President is part of a scheme to extend his tenure by another term after his current term elapses.
“It is obvious that the bold attempts by the president to nominate, out of the blue, seven judges to the Supreme Court are the first major attempt at all that they have rehearsed — a third term agenda,” Afenyo-Markin had claimed.
But the Majority Leader, responding to the assertion on Accra-based Citi FM Friday, May 2, 2025, indicated that the Effutu lawmaker is the one putting the notion on people’s minds since it is not on the table of the President.
“I think he is the one who is putting the idea in the minds of Ghanaians. I am not sure I have heard Ghanaians having that discussion or even the strategists of the NDC having that conversation.
“He is the one putting this in the minds of Ghanaians,” he stated.
The Member of Parliament for Bawku Central also stated that the idea of Mahama running a third term surfaced prior to the President’s filing of his nomination, where some elements within the NPP went to court to stop him from contesting.
“The conversation of him running for a third term even came up before he filed to contest as flagbearer of the NDC in the 2024 general election. Indeed, some people threatened to go to the Supreme Court to stop him from contesting because they thought he would contest for a third term,” he explained.
Nomination of 7 judges to Supreme Court is for Mahama’s 3rd term agenda – Afenyo-Markin
