Former Tamale Central MP Inusah Fuseini has rejected the proposal to extend the tenure of the President and Members of Parliament from four to five years.

The proposal is contained in the report of the Constitution Review Committee chaired by Professor H. Kwasi Prempeh.

The government has accepted the recommendation, arguing that an additional year would give governments more time to formulate, implement and assess policies.

However, speaking at a press briefing on Wednesday, September 23, ahead of an Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) seminar on the constitutional review, Mr Fuseini questioned the rationale for extending the tenure.

He argued that the current four-year term already provides sufficient time for an elected government to implement its policies.

“And if you are running four years, the last year is used for campaigning for re-election. Probably you can have three years if you have been re-elected a second time.

“So why do you say five? If the argument is that you have the first year to set up your government and the last year to run a campaign, what is the rationale for five? Because from that argument, you see that two years have been lost. So why five? I don’t see any rational basis for five,” he said.

Mr Fuseini also rejected the argument that a five-year term would improve policy continuity.

According to him, the 1992 Constitution already provides for continuity in governance through the Directive Principles of State Policy.

“Talk about continuity. The Constitution already anticipated that. That is why in the Directive Principles of State Policy, every succeeding President must, as far as possible, continue with ongoing projects,” he said.

He argued that the constitutional arrangement recognises that a President may not be able to complete all policy initiatives within a single term and that subsequent governments can continue or improve on existing projects.

“So the Constitution anticipated that a President might not be able to exhaust all his policy options and the government may improve the projects that it has undertaken. And I think the constitutional arrangement must be respected,” he added.

The former MP was speaking ahead of the IEA’s “Views and Reflections” seminar on the Prempeh Committee’s report and the government’s position on proposed constitutional reforms.

The IEA itself has rejected the proposed extension of presidential and parliamentary terms, arguing that four years is sufficient for an elected government to implement its programme