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Chairman of the Constitution Review Committee, Prof Kwasi Henry Prempeh, has clarified that proposals to extend the presidential term to five years will not affect the current president, stressing that constitutional mandates cannot be altered after an election has taken place.
In an interview with JoyNews, Prof Prempeh said any such amendment, even if approved, would only apply in future electoral cycles.
“It’s not possible. He was elected under a constitution that gives him only four years. You cannot change his term midstream,” he stated.
He explained that the committee deliberately avoided inserting a special carve-out in the final report, despite initially considering it.
“In an earlier version of the report, for the avoidance of doubt, we had stated that this would take effect after this term,” he said.
According to him, that language was eventually removed to prevent misinterpretation.
“Some felt that if we specified it only for this recommendation, it might suggest the rest would apply immediately. So we left it out,” Prof Prempeh explained.
He said the legal position remains clear regardless of the wording, noting that constitutional changes cannot retroactively alter the terms under which an officeholder was elected.
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