The Member of Parliament for Manhyia South, Nana Agyei Baffour Awuah, has argued that Ghana’s governance challenges require legal provisions that ensure continuity of presidential leadership, rather than extending presidential term limits.

Speaking on News File on JoyNews on Saturday, while discussing the proposed five-year presidential term by the Constitution Review Committee, the lawmaker stated that the country would benefit more from a framework allowing a sitting president to maintain policy and governance continuity, thereby fully implementing their development agenda.

"The issue really has to do with continuity, and so we have to pass a law to ensure continuity and not rather to extend the president's term because the president will take loans, he would not be able to finish paying the loans before he leaves office, he will start projects, the project's lifespan will exceed his tenure, he will pass laws, the laws will exceed his tenure and he might not be able to implement them and so realistically, adding one more year will not enable [him to] finish anything he starts," he said.

"It is an issue of continuity, and that has been the debate: successive presidents not being able to finish projects that their predecessors started. I think that we should look at how best we are going to do," he urged.

His comments come amid ongoing national debates on constitutional review and proposals aimed at reshaping the country’s governance architecture.

Read also: Constitutional Review Committee proposes 5-year presidential term

The Constitutional Review Committee has proposed extending the presidential term of office from four years to five years, as part of recommendations aimed at strengthening governance and policy continuity.

The Chairman of the committee, Prof. Prempeh, disclosed this on Monday, December 22, when the committee formally presented its work to the President at Jubilee House.

The full details of the reasoning behind this proposal are yet to be made available to the public.