Member of Parliament for Guan, Fred Kwesi Agbenyo, has argued that governments in Ghana effectively have only about two years to govern and implement policies within the current four-year presidential term.
According to him, the proposal by the Constitution Review Committee (CRC) to extend the term to five years is a good call.
Speaking on Metro TV and observed by MewsDesksGH on December 23, he noted that the constitutional four-year cycle is largely consumed by the process of settling into office and political activities, leaving limited time for meaningful development work.
Fred Agbenyo noted that under Ghana’s electoral calendar, governments are sworn into office on January 7 of the year following general elections
He explained that a significant portion of a government’s first year is spent assembling its team and understanding the state of the economy it has inherited.
“By the time you finish putting your government in place, that is the ministers, the chief executives and what have you, almost one year is gone. The time you’ll really understand the economy you’re inheriting from an outgoing government; to understand everything, it takes you almost a year.”
He also pointed to internal party activities as another factor that limits governance time when a party is in power.
He said the National Democratic Congress (NDC) will be expected to hold its branch elections between May and June 2026, followed by constituency, regional and national elections.
“As soon as we finish, we’re moving to constituency elections. As soon as we finish, we’re moving to regional elections. Then national elections.”
“Per the NDCs constitutions, when we’re in power, the flag bearer should be elected a year to the next elections. When we’re in opposition, 2 years. So what this means is by 2027 December we should’ve elected a flag bearer that will lead us into 2028 elections.”
He stressed that balancing governance with constant political activity makes it difficult for governments to fully focus on national development.
“The campaign activities, the political internal activities are there. The development of the nation is also there. So if you look at it well, a government has barely 2 years to govern.”
“First year you’re settling down, you’re trying to understand the system. The second year, now you start implementing your projects and programmes. The third year, you’re still on that. By the fourth year you’re going for the next elections.”
He added that major national projects often cannot be completed within one or two years, making the current term insufficient for sustained development.
“The five years for me, at least it’s good enough. The one year you can use to settle down, then you have 3 years. 3 years is good enough to be able to do all the things that you want to do.”
The Constitution Review Committee submitted its final report, titled “Transforming Ghana: From Electoral Democracy to Developmental Democracy,” to President John Dramani Mahama on December 22, 2025.
The report contains extensive recommendations aimed at reforming the 1992 Constitution, including proposals of 5 year presidential terms, capping number of ministers at 57, lowering Presidential candidate age to 30 among others.
