A former presidential candidate of the Convention People’s Party (CPP), Dr Michael Abu Sakara Foster, has joined calls for an extension of the tenure for presidents of the country.
Recently, former President John Agyekum Kufuor renewed calls for the extension at a conference organised by the International Society for African Philosophy and Studies (ISAPS), which was held in Accra on the theme: ‘Democracy, Justice and Development in Africa: 50 Years After Independence’ with the view that the constraints of leading a developing nation like Ghana require more than four years to make any meaningful impact in terms of development.
It is recalled that in 2012, Mr Kufuor said: “If we have a five-year term, the third year will see to the maturing of policies and laws, the fourth year will see the good policies that would serve the nation. By the fifth year when people are canvassing for power, the good works can be judged by all.” He made a similar call in his last address to parliament before leaving office.
Dr Foster, speaking to Prince Minkah on the Executive Breakfast Show on Class91.3FM on Tuesday August 30, suggested the country should consider a more stable system of governance by extending the tenure to six years.
Discussing how to move the country in the right direction, Dr Foster said: “…You need to make some fundamental changes and those changes I am saying are the systems of governance. We have to move towards a system of governance that is more stable. Let’s have a longer term of office that is six years, less wasteful. …That does not mean that we are going to have elections in all the number of districts that we have now because those are too many to decentralise. We have to reconceptualise the architecture of the country and say maybe now we will develop 20 regions and we will decentralise those regions.”
“What are we going to do for the youth? We [say]: ‘Teach the youth the act of sacrifice and discipline. We are going to have compulsory military service for two years.’ Those things happen together with that national vision which will begin to drive us. If we adopt an economic framework that works for everybody and lastly people keep talking about this issue of politicians amassing wealth etc. when there is a symptom that keeps coming up, you have to find the cause.”
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