Kofi Bentil Pushes for a Five-Year Single Presidential Term in Ghana

What if Ghanaian presidents had five years instead of four to deliver on their promises? That is the question Kofi Bentil, Vice President of IMANI Africa, is pushing into Ghana’s constitutional reform conversation. Bentil is a lawyer, public policy advocate and one of Ghana’s prominent voices on governance and public accountability. He recently backed proposals to extend Ghana’s presidential term from four years to five.

His argument is simple: Ghana has tried the four-year system for more than 30 years, so why not add one more year and see if it produces better governance?

According to Bentil, presidents frequently complain that four years is not enough to implement their programmes. That often becomes part of the argument for seeking a second term. A five-year single term, he argues, could remove that excuse. And he believes it could change how presidents behave.The idea is not simply about giving presidents more time Bentil argues that a five-year term could actually make presidents more accountable.

If a president has five years to deliver and cannot immediately blame the shortness of the first term, voters can judge the administration more clearly on its performance. It could also encourage more one-term presidents. If voters have five full years to assess a government’s performance, a president who performs poorly could simply be voted out rather than relying on the argument that they need another four years to finish what they started. 

But there is another side to this argument. Five years could also mean five years of bad governance. Giving a president an extra year is only useful if the president is doing a good job. If the government is failing, a longer term could mean citizens have to endure poor leadership for an additional year before getting the chance to vote again.

There is also the concern that extending presidential terms could gradually make it easier for leaders to seek even more time in office. Ghana’s current constitutional system limits presidents to two four-year terms, so any change would have to carefully preserve the country’s term-limit safeguards. And perhaps the biggest question is whether one additional year can really solve the problems of governance.

Bentil himself has acknowledged that one extra year will not solve everything. The argument is that it removes one particular excuse: “I didn’t have enough time.” 

Whether Ghanaians will agree is another matter. For some, five years could give governments the breathing room needed to actually complete major projects. For others, four years already gives voters enough time to decide whether a government deserves another mandate.