President John Mahama receiving the Committee’s report
Investment consultant, Kwame Pianim, has warned government not to rush the implementation of amendments proposed by the Constitutional Review Committee.
He has also suggested that any reform process must be rooted in practical political experience, not driven primarily by legal scholars and academic technocrats.
Speaking to Joy News yesterday, he said recommendations from constitutional review discussions should first be turned into a white paper, debated in parliament and in the press, before any referendum is entertained.
“It is not a job for scholars and lawyers. We want people who have been involved in the nitty-gritty of our politics to find out what has gone wrong,” he suggested.
The Constitutional Review Committee, after nearly a year of nationwide consultation, presented its final report to President John Mahama at the Jubilee House in December 2025.
President Mahama received the Final Report of the Committee, chaired by Prof. Henry Kwasi Prempeh, at a ceremony at The Presidency on December 22, 2025.
The President subsequently directed the publication and release of the Report to the public.
The Committee made several recommendations to ‘correct’ what some people consider to be ‘defects’ in the 1992 Constitution, including extending the presidential term from four to five years.
The Committee reviewed whether Ghana’s four-year presidential term is too short, noting concerns that a President effectively governs for just over two years, spending the initial months on appointments and the final year on campaigning.
The Committee recommends extending the presidential and parliamentary terms to five years, while retaining the presidential two-term limit.
According to the Committee, a five-year term aligns with African and global norms, allows sufficient time for policy implementation, strengthens electoral accountability, and synchronises the political cycle with national development planning.
It also proposed the reduction of the minimum age requirement for the Presidency from 40 to 30 years.
However, Mr. Pianim appears to disagree with the minimum age proposed by the Prof. Henry Kwasi Prempeh-led committee, arguing that certain positions come with wisdom, and wondered whether the committee would allow same age limits in other institutions of state.
“Which of the lawyers who are reforming this for us will accept a 40-year-old as a Chief Justice, a 40-year-old as the leader of the bar association?” he asked. “There are some jobs that need judgement and wisdom,” he pointed out.
Mr. Pianim, therefore, called for a serious national conversation on how political parties are financed, arguing that without addressing corruption at its source, even the best-written constitution would not save Ghana from the ‘rogues’ it keeps electing.
BY Gibril Abdul Razak