One of the key qualifications for a person to run as a Presidential candidate in the country is provided under Article 63 (1) (a) of the 1992 Constitution, to the effect that "A person shall not be a candidate in a presidential election unless he is nominated for election as President by a document signed by him".
In that case, once my Roommate President John Dramani Mahama has unequivocally pronounced his intention not to do anything to undermine the oath he swore on January 7, 2025, but to uphold and respect all the provisions in the Constitution, let us all cease fire and focus on what would advance our democratic governance and give meaning to constitutional democracy.
In Anthills of the Savannah, Achebe writes about attempts by some people to ensure that the military leader, who took power in a coup d’état, transitioned into a civilian President through a referendum. They campaigned vigorously convincing and persuading the people to vote Yes.
However, the people from Abazon Region, one of the regions in the country, voted No. As a result, they were denied their fair share of national development. They therfore, sent a delegation to Bassa, the national capital, to apologise to the military leader.
Explaining why they had voted No, an old man who led the Abazon delegation argued that their decision was justified because they sensed deceit in the process and that is why they rejected the plan.
He explained that, "when we were told two years ago that we should vote for the Big Chief to rule forever and all kinds of people we had never seen before came running in and out of our villages asking us to say Yes, I told my people, we have Osodi in Bassa. If he comes home and tells us that we should say Yes, we will do so because he is there as our eye and ear.
I said if what these strange people are telling us is true, Osodi will come or he will write in his paper and our sons will read it and know that it is true. But he did not come to tell us and he did not write it in his paper. So we knew that cunning has entered the talk".
He said, "There was another thing that showed me there was deception in the talk. The people who were running in and out telling us to say Yes came one day and told us that the Big Chief himself did not want to rule forever but was being forced.
...And I knew that cunning had entered the matter". Accordingly, Achebe speaking through Ikem Osodi, the Editor of the Gazette notes that “the Emperor may be a fool but is not a monster, not yet", for which he expresses gratitude to God, " but right now he is still OK, thank God".
Therefore, if anybody is acting as a surrogate, once the supposed beneficiary has come out to say that he is not interested and will not tamper with the Constitution as he met it, there is no need to stretch things to tear the nation apart.
It is not only members of the New Patriotic Party or academics who are opposed to the move but even key members of the National Democratic Congress are not at ease with the proposal.
Since President Mahama has to append his signature personally before he could ever be a presidential candidate in any future election. It must be noted that one can force a horse to the riverside, but one cannot compel it to drink, insofar as he is sincere in his no.
My Roommate says that he has no ambition to contest for the position of President for the third or any other term, when by the grace of God, he completes his second tenure as President. More importantly, as he conclusively observed and noted, there is no ambiguity about how many times a candidate can serve in Ghana as President.
I know that my Roommate is sincere. He does not want to follow the footsteps of President Vladimir Putin, who, after every two terms, gets a stooge to become President whilst he serves as Prime Minister to take over as soon as the new one concludes his tenure.
Context
In the local context, as our elders tell us, if one has not experienced death, one can take a look at sleep. Article 60 (6) and (7) provide that "Whenever the President dies, resigns or is removed from office, the Vice-president shall assume office as President for the unexpired term of office of the President with effect from the date of the death, resignation or removal of the President" and that "Where the unexpired term served by the Vice-President under clause (6) of this article exceeds half the term of a President, the Vice-President is subsequently only eligible to serve one full term as President".
Thus, in a situation where a Vice-President who assumes office for more than two years to complete the term of his predecessor can only be President for a term of four years, making a maximum of seven years and cannot contest again for the position, how then can a person who has served two full terms amounting to eight years be eligible to be President, the third or fourth time or any time else.
Article 66 (1) and (2) do not require any legal luminary to interpret. The two clauses taken together bring finality to the issue stating that “A person elected as President shall, subject to clause (3) of this Article, hold office for a term of four years beginning from the date on which he is sworn in as President", and that "A person shall not be elected to hold office as President of Ghana for more than two terms".
Clause(3) of Article 66 notes that "The office of President shall become vacant (a) on the expiration of the period specified in Clause (1) of this article; or (b) if the incumbent dies or resigns from office or ceases to hold office under Article 69 of this Constitution. Article 69 outlines the processes for the removal of a President.
Where then lies the ambiguity that requires the attention of the Supreme Court for interpretation, as to whether the limitation is about a term limit or a continuous or consecutive term limit?
The term of a President in Ghana, as provided for under the Constitution of the Republic of Ghana 1992, is four years and any President can be in office for only two terms, whether continuous, consecutive or broken.
Indeed, the people of Ghana have no social contract with anybody to be reelected after the first term. If, however, the people find a candidate worthwhile and worthy of two terms, they will do so on their own terms. It is not part of the constitutional law of Ghana, as at present, to allow or encourage any individual to serve as President for more than two terms.
In December last year, the Majority Leader and my Ghana School of Law SRC President, Hon. Mahama Ayariga, stated that if the NDC allowed President Mahama to contest as their Presidential candidate for 2028, he would support the move. There was also one Kokroko Kwasi Kukoro Oppong Agyare who said because of the good work of President Mahama, there must be a way to review the Constitution to allow him seek a third term. He cited a few countries without term limits and lauded the pace of sustained progress which he attributed to the long periods that leaders serve, including Singapore, Rwanda, South Korea and UAE.
In my column on Thursday, December 18 last year, I commended my Roommate for rejecting that slippery path to seek a third term and cautioned the NDC not to deceive itself that it can use its large majority in Parliament to tamper with the constitutional governance of the country. I also noted that the Constitutional Review Committee under Prof. Henry Kwesi Prempeh would find out if such a move would be accepted by our people. Presenting the report from the exercise, Prof. Prempeh stated unequivocally that increasing the Presidential term limit was a no-no.
That is why I would want to see the suits seeking interpretation from the Supreme Court about term limits would be set out and disposed of as quickly as possible to enable Ghanaians focus on functional things rather than these issues that are " mere squibs" or " incredible emptiness " words used to describe, reject and dismiss a budget presented by President Dr Hilla Limann to Parliament during the Third Republic, by Doctors G.A Agama and Jones Ofori Atta.
