A roadmap that outlasts a government
Appearing on Joy News' The Law, Asante said the time remaining before the next general election would not be enough to complete the proposed reforms. The work includes constitutional amendments as well as changes to existing laws and subsidiary legislation, he explained.
"We shouldn't put ourselves in a corner with all that pressure and make sure that we put a framework in place that allows us to continue working on some of these reforms," he said.
Asante wants a legal framework that would track the reforms and protect their continuation through a change in administration. "So that it gives us the security that in the period if we go past 2028 into another regime, into a different transition, that we are able to still carry out the reforms," he added.
The Citizens' Platform on Constitutional Reform is also pressing for a Constitutional Reform Implementation and Roadmap Act. Convened by CDD-Ghana, STAR-Ghana Foundation and Democracy Hub, together with local governance networks, the coalition wants the legislation to identify the reforms, assign responsibility for each stage and establish deadlines. Its proposed milestones cover public consultations, legislative drafting, parliamentary consideration, civic education and referendums.
GBC Ghana Online reports that the agenda involves more than 50 constitutional amendments and more than 14 bills, covering both new laws and changes to existing legislation. Civil society groups argue that the workload may exceed what one Parliament can realistically complete, potentially carrying the process beyond the 2028 elections into another parliamentary term and administration.
Questions about the implementation committee
Asante said CDD-Ghana and other civil society stakeholders had petitioned the President because they considered the Constitution Review Implementation Committee's mandate too narrow.
The government created that committee, known as the CRIC, in August 2026 to turn recommendations it had accepted into measures that could be implemented, according to ConstitutionNet, published by International IDEA. Marietta Brew Appiah-Oppong, a former Attorney General who now serves as Counsel to the President, chairs the 11-member body.
The committee brings together MPs from both the majority and minority caucuses, ministers, civil society representatives and two former members of the Constitution Review Committee. ConstitutionNet reports that the Attorney General assigned it to produce two bills addressing entrenched and non-entrenched constitutional provisions by the end of October 2026.
The proposals and the government's response
The reform effort concerns a Constitution adopted in 1992 that has received only one minor amendment, in 1996, according to ConstitutionNet.
Professor H. Kwesi Prempeh chaired the Constitution Review Committee, which delivered its final report on February 10, 2026. The Ghanaian Times reports that the document contains 206 proposals, with 149 amendments to existing constitutional provisions and 59 new constitutional clauses. Its recommendations drew on 10 thematic stakeholder sessions, 785 written submissions, input from more than 500 experts and direct engagement with over 21,500 citizens.
In its July 2026 Position Paper, the government accepted some recommendations, modified others and rejected others. Among the proposals it accepted was an extension of presidential and parliamentary terms from four years to five. The existing two-term presidential limit would remain, and the longer terms would not apply to current officeholders.
The government also accepted a limit on the number of ministers and a proposal allowing parliamentary censure to serve as grounds for a minister's removal. It rejected strict separation between the executive and legislature, instead expanding the President's discretion to choose ministers from either inside or outside Parliament.
Referendum plans and opposition demands
Different approval rules apply to the proposed constitutional changes. Non-entrenched provisions require a two-thirds majority in Parliament, while entrenched provisions must go to a referendum. For those amendments to pass, turnout must reach at least 40% of registered voters and at least 75% of votes cast must support the change, according to ConstitutionNet.
President Mahama has announced plans for a referendum alongside local government elections in 2027. But the main opposition New Patriotic Party has rejected the government's decision to proceed through the CRIC. It wants a citizen-led Consultative Assembly to consider the proposals and says it will boycott any constitutional amendment referendum unless that assembly is convened.
