The government has accepted a key recommendation of the Constitutional Review Committee (CRC) to extend the tenure of the President and Parliament from four years to five years, Attorney General and Minister for Justice Dr Dominic Ayine has announced.
Presenting the government’s White Paper on the Constitutional Review Committee’s recommendations, Dr Ayine explained that the change is designed to give successive administrations more time to implement and evaluate their policies before facing the electorate again.
“The government has accepted a recommendation to extend the term of office of the president from four years to five years, with the term of Parliament extended to correspond with this,” he said.
He noted that the present four-year electoral cycle leaves governments with limited time to deliver on their programmes, as the beginning and end of each term are heavily occupied by transition processes and election-related activities.
“Our thinking is practical. Under the current four-year cycle, the early months of every administration are consumed by transition matters, and the final year is largely consumed by elections.”
According to the Attorney General, a five-year term would offer a more practical window for effective governance and policy delivery.
“A five-year term provides a more realistic time frame for the formulation, implementation and assessment of government policy.”
Dr Ayine also revealed that the government has accepted, in principle, the committee’s recommendation to lower the minimum age for presidential candidates, but with a modification.
While the Constitutional Review Committee proposed reducing the eligibility age from the current 40 years to 30 years, the government has settled on a minimum age of 35 years.
“Still under the presidency, the committee recommended that the minimum age of eligibility for election as president be reduced from 40 years, currently in the Constitution, to 30 years. The government has accepted this recommendation in principle, subject to one modification,” he said.
“The minimum age will be 35 years, not 30 years. And of course, the details of this will be fashioned out by the Constitutional Review.”
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