Mr President, it is the people that give second term, not the constitution- Nana Addo

Nana Akufo-Addo, the flagbearer of the New Patriotic Party, (NPP) is accusing the president of grossly misrepresenting the Constitution of Ghana by insinuating that the constitution gives every candidate two terms.

Nana Akufo-Addo told Joy News that such a misrepresentation from no less a person than the president is worrying.

President John Mahama, in his closing remarks in Wednesday’s second Institute of Economic Affairs Presidential Debate, stated: “The NDC government has done a lot in four years. Our constitution gives presidents two terms. Take it that I am the spare driver or caretaker. Prof. Mills, of blessed memory, started the process and I am finishing his unexpired term. I believe the NDC government deserves a second term to be able to build on the foundation that it has laid in these four years.”

This, Nana Addo insists, is a clear misrepresentation of the constitution and should not have come from the president, who is supposed to be the embodiment of the constitution.

After his failed attempt to rebut the president’s comments during yesterday’s debate, (the moderators said candidates could not rebut during closing remarks,) Nana Addo told Joy News’ Benjamin Tetteh that the president erred when he said the constitution gives every president two terms.

He stated there is nowhere in the constitution that says that a president is entitled to two terms. “Otherwise, what were we doing at the debate, if the president was entitled to two terms by the constitution?”

It is the people that give a second term and not the constitution, he insisted.

He added that it is only if the people are satisfied with the performance of a sitting president that they vote to retain him in office for a second term.

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