Bishop Samuel N Mensah, the president of the Full Gospel Church International (FGCI), has reiterated the need for the tenure of national presidents in politics to be increased to six years with no option of re-election.
Speaking at the third Emmanuel Ashong Mensah Memorial Lectures in Tema on Sunday 30 May, Bishop Mensah argued that the current four-year term restricts leaders and stops them from executing their plans.
The lecture series is named after the founder of the Full Gospel Church International, Very Reverend Emmanuel Ashong Mensah, a trailblazer in the charismatic movement in Ghana.
Bishop Mensah’s address focused on socio-political conditions in Ghana, the indiscipline on the country’s roads, lawlessness, poor health care, and the need for a national vision to drive Ghana’s development.
Longer tenure
Bishop Mensah stressed that extending the term of office would allow for the execution of more development projects by sitting presidents.
He explained that if the term was extended, a president could get accustomed to the office in the first two years, and then use the rest of the period to roll out policies and plans, with little or no pressure, and not thinking about the renewal of his mandate.
“When they take office in the first year, they are warming up to understand transitional management. In the second year, that is where they are building up their policies. By the third year, they are thinking about their re-election, so literally, they have only two years to do anything meaningful.
“But if we give them six years and only one term, they will have enough time to do whatever they want to do in building a better country. In doing so, the challenge of fighting and trying to retain power will be reduced,” he said.
Constitutional reform
Bishop Mensah said Ghana seemed to have missed its path in development planning because of an absence of continuity of government policy and projects by succeeding governments.
He said continuity was imperative for the success of long-term national development plans, or any other national plan, for that matter, to drive national growth and prosperity regardless of which political party is in power.
He said that projects started in the days of President Kwame Nkrumah had been abandoned.
Inclusion
Bishop Mensah also stressed the need for inclusion to curtail the “winner-takes-all” culture of governance in Ghana.
He argued that the constitutional provision which gives the executive president of Ghana enormous powers of appointment must be reviewed.
The bishop further called for the exclusion of MPs from serving as government ministers to make Parliament truly independent and to enable them to hold the executive to account as representatives of the people.
Youth participation
Bishop Mensah urged young Ghanaians to rise and contribute actively to national development by making their voices heard and demanding accountability.
He furthermore advised the youth to put a stop to the culture of insults targeted at people in authority, whether political, traditional or religious.
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