Prof H Kwasi Prempeh, the Chairman of the Constitutional Review Committee has tackled the former NPP Chairman, Freddie Blay over his assertion that the Supreme Court could interpret the 1992 Constitution on the presidential term to allow John Dramani Mahama to run for a third term.
According to him, the Supreme Court is not omnipotent or above the Constitution.
Prof Prempeh noted that Freddie Blay’s assertion is bogus as Two terms mean two terms.
Prof Prempeh in a Facebook on Wednesday, June 11, 2025, wrote, “Any interpretation of Article 66(1) to the effect that a President who has been elected to a second term can stand election again (i.e., a third time) upon the expiration of the second term is illegitimate and bogus.
Judges do not have the authority to rewrite, amend or set aside a provision of the constitution whose text and purpose, including from history, admit to only one meaning. Two terms mean two terms!”
He added, “If the Framers of Article 66(1) had wanted to say that a President cannot be elected to office as President ‘for more than two consecutive terms,’ thereby leaving room for a possible non-consecutive third term, they would have said so.
They would have said so, as they knew what is said in Article 246(2) of the same Constitution in relation to a District Chief Executive. There is nothing wrong with or unclear about Article 66(1) in its current form. Two terms mean two terms!”
Prof Prempeh, added, “This matter must be laid to rest. The Supreme Court is not omnipotent or above the constitution”.
His comments come after Freddie Blay stated the Supreme Court may interpret the law to allow President Mahama to run for a third term but the ultimate decision lies with the Ghanaian electorate.
According to Freddie Blay, if the apex court interprets the constitution to permit Mahama to run again, he personally has no objection.
Speaking in an interview on Oyerepa FM on Wednesday, June 11, 2025, Blay stated, “The law is in the bosom of the judges,” Blay remarked, adding, “If it goes to the Supreme Court—which has the exclusive judicial right to interpret the Constitution—and that body decides that what it means by two terms is conservatively this or that, I don’t have a problem with it.”
“The law court does not vote for a president. The individuals who constitute a panel and may look at a case have only one vote each. It is the people of this country who will vote”, he emphasized.
The NPP have accused the NDC and John Mahama of plotting to remove Chief Justice Gertrude Araba Torkornoo to enable President John Dramani Mahama to contest for a third presidential term.
According to the NPP, some individuals are allegedly planning to interpret Article 66(2) of the Constitution in a way that implies the two-term limit applies only to two successive terms.
