General News
A-Plus Rejects Five-Year Presidential and Parliamentary Terms
Member of Parliament for Gomoa Central, Kwame Asare Obeng, popularly known as A-Plus, has strongly rejected the proposal to extend the tenure of the President and Members of Parliament from four years to five years.
Speaking on 3FM, A-Plus said he completely disagrees with the proposal and would not only vote against it but also campaign against it if Ghanaians are asked to approve the change.
“I completely disagree, and I am totally against it. The suggestion that we should vote for the five-year term, I am going to campaign against it,” A-Plus said on 3FM.
He insisted that he would vote against any attempt to extend both presidential and parliamentary terms to five years.
“I am very sure that extending MPs’ term to five years and the presidential term to five years will fall flat. I am going to vote against extending the parliamentary and presidential terms,” he stated.
According to A-Plus, political leaders should be made to return to the electorate more frequently and seek renewed mandates based on their performance and achievements in office.
He went further, suggesting that the terms could even be reduced to two years, arguing that elected officials should face voters regularly.
“I think it should even be two years. After every two years, you have to come back to the people and the people must vote for you based on your performance, based on your achievement,” he said.
A-Plus also rejected the argument that four years is not enough time for elected leaders to work.
He maintained that voters should assess political officeholders based on what they have been able to accomplish rather than being given additional time in office.
Government backs five-year tenure proposal
A-Plus’ comments come after the government announced its support for the Constitution Review Committee’s (CRC) recommendation to extend the tenure of the President from four years to five years.
Attorney-General and Minister for Justice, Dr Dominic Ayine, announced the government’s position at a press briefing on Thursday, July 30, as part of the government’s response to the CRC’s recommendations for amendments to the 1992 Constitution.
Dr Ayine said the government had accepted the recommendation to extend the presidential tenure from four years to five years.
The government has also accepted, in principle, a corresponding extension of Parliament’s tenure from four years to five years.
According to the Attorney-General, the government believes the current four-year constitutional term does not give administrations enough time to properly formulate, implement and assess national policies.
The proposed five-year tenure is therefore intended to provide governments and Parliament with additional time to execute their programmes and evaluate their outcomes.
However, A-Plus has made his position clear. he said he would oppose the proposal and campaign against it, insisting that elected leaders should be regularly judged by voters on their performance and achievements.