Chairman of the Constitutional Review Committee (CRC), Professor H. Kwasi Prempeh, has questioned the rationale behind the compulsory retirement of university lecturers at age 60, arguing that the policy is inconsistent with current practice and does not reflect the realities of academic work.

According to him, many lecturers who retire at 60 are often re-engaged as consultants or contract staff, raising questions about why they cannot be allowed to work continuously until age 70 or even 80 if they remain mentally fit and productive.

Speaking in an interview with Accra-based TV3 after the CRC presented its final report to President John Dramani Mahama, Prof. Prempeh said the committee is proposing the removal of the fixed retirement age from the 1992 Constitution to allow greater flexibility.

“Our judges retire at 65 or 70, so why must university lecturers, some of whom are still very sharp, be forced to retire at 60?” he asked.

“Some are not even in their prime yet.”

He explained that the committee’s recommendation is informed by the need to give institutions such as universities the discretion to retain experienced faculty where necessary, rather than relying on short-term re-engagements that everyone acknowledges are inefficient.

“Let them work to 70,” he said, noting that retirement age should not be treated as an employment valve.

“The 80-year-old who leaves the classroom is not automatically replaced by a younger person looking for a job. It doesn’t work that way.”

Prof Prempeh also rejected the argument that older academics must exit to create space for younger ones, describing that reasoning as overly simplistic and disconnected from how employment mobility actually functions.