The President of the Full Gospel Church International (FGCI), Bishop Samuel N. Mensah, has reiterated the need for the presidential tenure to be increased to six years with no option of re-election.

At the third edition of the Emmanuel Ashong Mensah Memorial Lectures in Tema on Sunday, May 30, 2021, Bishop Mensah argued that the current four-year term-limited leaders from executing their plans effectively.

The lecture named after the founder of the Full Gospel Church International, Very Rev. Emmanuel Ashong Mensah, a trailblazer of the charismatic movement in Ghana, focused on the deteriorating socio-political conditions in the country, the indiscipline on the country’s roads, lawlessness, poor healthcare system, and the need for a national vision to drive the country’s development.

Tenure

Bishop Mensah stressed that an increase in the term of office would allow for the execution of more developmental projects by the president.

He explained that if the term was increased, the President could get accustomed with the office in the first two years, and then use the rest of the period to roll out his 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 Reforms

Bishop Mensah said Ghana seemed to have missed its path in terms of development planning due to the absence of continuity in government policies and projects by succeeding governments.

He said it was imperative for the development of a long-term national development plan and any other national plan for that matter to drive national development and growth irrespective of which political party was in power.

According to him, projects started from the days of President Kwame Nkrumah had been abandoned.

Inclusiveness

Bishop Mensah also stressed the need for inclusiveness to curtail the “Winner-Takes-All” practice of governance in the country.

He noted that the constitutional provision that gave the executive President of Ghana enormous powers of appointment must be reviewed.

He called for the exclusion of Members of Parliament from serving as ministers in the executive to make Parliament truly independent and holding the executive to account as representatives of the people.

Youth participation

While urging the youth to rise and actively contribute to national development by making their voices heard and demanding accountability, Bishop Mensah advised the youth to put a stop to the culture of insults targeted at people in authority, whether political, traditional or religious.