Is President Mahama Eying 3rd Term?

It is early days yet, but President John Dramani Mahama has left many people wondering whether he has plans to seeks another term in office.

Speaking at the post-presidential inauguration dinner in Accra on Wednesday, January 8, the President stressed the need for hard work from his new administration in order to secure them another term maybe under a new leader. “The success of this administration will secure us another term, perhaps under a different leader. But we must get this right so that Ghanaians can continue to have confidence in us,” he stated.

On social media, many are of the belief the use of the word “perhaps” connotes President Mahama is not ruling himself out of contesting another term.

Constitutional provision
The National Democratic Congress (NDC) has an absolute majority in Parliament that can be used to change many things in the Constitution,

But, Article 66 of the 1992 Constitution provides that a President can serve only two terms.
66 (1) A person elected as President shall hold office for a term of four years beginning from the date on which he is sworn in as President.
(2) A person shall not be elected to hold office as President of Ghana for more than two terms.
President Mahama served his first term from January 7, 2013 to January 6, 2017.

Constitutional review
A day after making the pronouncement, President Mahama announced plans to establish a committee tasked with organising a National Constitutional Review Validation Conference.

Speaking at the 92nd Jalsa Salana of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Mission Ghana at Gomoa Pomadze, he said, “I will soon establish a committee to plan a National Constitutional Review Validation Conference, allowing us to build broad consensus on the proposed constitutional amendments,” he affirmed.

1000s of CVs
At the presidential dinner ceremony, President Mahama also said he has received thousands of CVs from persons seeking ministerial appointments in his government but he will keep to his promise to pick 60 ministers. “You wouldn’t want to be in my shoes when you’ve promised to appoint only 60 ministers, yet thousands of people are sending in their CVs. Then maybe some people will be disappointed,” he said

Work started in earnest
He also indicated that he has started work in earnest “I have hit the ground running. Today, I had several meetings with all our key multilateral and bilateral partners to try to see how we can kick-start things to make the lives of our people better, to look at issues to do with the economy and all that. And so I expect that all of us who would have a role to play would also be the same,” he stated.