Future presidents may serve five-year terms instead of four after the government announced its acceptance of the Constitutional Review Committee's (CRC) recommendation to extend the tenure of the President and Parliament.

Presenting the government's response to the Constitutional Review Committee’s recommendations at a press conference at the Jubilee House in Accra on Thursday, July 30, the Attorney-General and Minister for Justice, Dr Dominic Ayine, explained that the proposal is intended to provide administrations with more time to implement and evaluate their policies before returning to the electorate.

“The government has accepted a recommendation to extend the term of office of the president from four years to five years, with the term of Parliament extended to correspond with this,” he said.

However, he explained that the document represents the government's considered position on the committee's proposals, but is not legally a white paper.

“This is not a government white paper. The government’s response represents its considered position on the recommendations submitted by the Constitutional Review Committee,” he continued.

He argued that the current four-year term is insufficient for governments to fully implement and deliver on their campaign promises, noting that the first year is largely spent settling into office while the fourth is often dominated by election-related activities. According to him, extending the tenure to five years would provide governments with a more realistic timeframe to implement most, if not all, of their policies.

“Our thinking is practical. Under the current four-year cycle, the early months of every administration are consumed by transition matters, and the final year is largely consumed by elections. A five-year term provides a more realistic time frame for the formulation, implementation and assessment of government policy,” the Attorney-General added.

The Attorney-General also announced that the government had accepted, in principle, the committee’s recommendation to lower the minimum age for presidential candidates, but with a modification.

While the Constitutional Review Committee proposed reducing the eligibility age from the current 40 years to 30 years, the government has opted for a minimum age of 35 years.

“Still under the presidency, the committee recommended that the minimum age of eligibility for election as president be reduced from 40 years, currently in the Constitution, to 30 years. The government has accepted this recommendation in principle, subject to one modification.

“The minimum age will be 35 years, not 30 years. And of course, the details of this will be fashioned out by the Constitutional Review,” he stressed.

The Attorney-General explained that the committee's recommendations had been thoroughly reviewed by Cabinet, stressing that the process was deliberate, constitutional and transparent. He said this was to counter any claims that the reforms were hastily adopted or politically motivated, emphasising that they were the product of extensive Cabinet deliberations.

“The recommendations of the CRC were carefully considered by Cabinet on three occasions, including the dedication of an entire weekend retreat presided over by the President of the Republic.

“Government examined each of the committee’s 206 proposed constitutional amendments against the provisions of the 1992 Constitution to determine their scope, implications and whether the objectives could be achieved through constitutional amendments or through ordinary legislation and administrative action,” he highlighted.

The Constitutional Review process and timeline

Ghana’s constitutional review process began in January 2010 under President John Evans Atta Mills, when a nine-member Constitutional Review Commission (CRC), chaired by Professor Albert Fiadjoe, Emeritus Professor of Law at the University of the West Indies, was inaugurated in Accra to examine the 1992 Constitution.

The committee was mandated not only to examine the 1992 Fourth Republican Constitution but also to gather public views and recommend amendments.

The other members included traditional leaders, legal practitioners, academics and civil society representatives such as Osabarima Kwesi Atta II, Akenten Appiah-Menka, Sabina Ofori-Boateng, Rev. Prof. Samuel Kwasi Adjepong, Dr Nicholas Amponsah, Gabriel Pwamang and Jean Mensa.

The CRC submitted its report to the government in 2011, and in the government's white paper, issued in June 2012, some proposals were accepted, others rejected and many deferred for further consideration.

However, implementation stalled soon after. The process lost momentum following the death of President John Evans Atta Mills in July 2012. During President John Mahama’s first term (2012–2016), constitutional reform was not prioritised, and the recommendations were left largely untouched.

Following the transfer of power from the NDC government to the NPP under the leadership of President Akufo-Addo (2017–2024), the review process was effectively dormant. The CRC’s recommendations were not implemented, and no new committee was established to continue the work until January 19, 2025, when President John Mahama appointed a new eight-member Constitutional Review Committee under the leadership of Professor H. Kwasi Prempeh to continue the review process.

On January 30, 2025, the committee was inaugurated and began work. About 10 months later, the committee presented a report to the President on its recommendations and, later, on February 10, 2026, delivered its full report, Transforming Ghana – From Electoral Democracy to Developmental Democracy, containing 206 proposed constitutional amendments.