National Chairman of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Johnson Asiedu Nketiah, has cautioned against framing discussions on presidential term limits around whether President John Dramani Mahama should seek a third term, arguing that the issue is about Ghana’s democratic stability.

Mr Asiedu Nketia said the debate should instead focus on whether the country should maintain constitutional restrictions on presidential tenure or remove them.

Speaking on JoyNews’ PM Express with Evans Mensah, he said reducing the conversation to personalities undermines the broader constitutional question.

"The underlying principle is about whether the nation should remove term limits or hold on to our constitutional term limits for presidents. It's not about President Mahama," he said.

"We have been too simplistic," he added.

The NDC chairman traced presidential term limits to the 1992 Constitution, explaining that the provision was introduced to guarantee peaceful transfers of power.

"Previously, we didn't have presidential term limits. This was introduced as a means of ensuring that we can institute power alternation in the country," he said.

He noted that before the current constitutional order, Ghana had not experienced a peaceful transfer of power from one political party to another.

Mr Asiedu Nketia argued that constitutional limits compelled former presidents, including Jerry Rawlings and John Agyekum Kufuor, to leave office despite their continued popularity.

"As at the time President Rawlings was exiting, he was still about the most popular person in the country. If there were no term limits, President Rawlings wouldn't have exited at the time he exited," he said.

He added that the same applied to President Kufuor when he left office.

Using an analogy of construction, Mr Asiedu Nketia warned that Ghana may risk weakening its democratic system if safeguards are removed before they have fully taken root.

"I see where we are like before you erect concrete beams or a concrete floor, you do some woodwork. And then pour the concrete on it like liquid. It has to set and get hardened before you remove the woodwork," he said.

"If you remove the woodwork prematurely, the whole thing collapses," he added.

He questioned whether Ghana’s democracy has matured enough to operate without the protection provided by presidential term limits.

"Is our democracy matured enough now that if we remove these guardrails, will the whole thing collapse or our democracy can still move on?" he asked.

Mr Asiedu Nketia cautioned that removing presidential term limits could expose Ghana to political instability experienced in other countries where leaders altered constitutional arrangements to remain in power.

"If we are going to think about removing the term limits, how different are people going to see us from the people of Guinea who had a president who just removed the term limits and rigged the election, remained in power only to be booted out by the military?" he asked.

He maintained that any discussion on changing presidential term limits must be guided by considerations of national stability and democratic consolidation rather than individual political interests.