The Minority in Parliament has issued a blunt challenge to President John Dramani Mahama, demanding that he publicly and unambiguously declare his non-interest in a presidential third term in Ghana, not selectively on foreign platforms.
The Minority says President Mahama’s reported remarks in Singapore, where he suggested he has no intention of seeking a third term, fall far short of what is required to reassure the Ghanaian people.
Addressing the media on Monday at a press conference dubbed ‘Holding Government to Account, a Year of Active and Responsible Minority Scrutiny in Ghana’s 9th Parliament, Minority Leader Alexander Afenyo-Markin argued that the President owes Ghanaians a clear, direct assurance within the country.
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This public declaration, he said, is imperative, particularly, at a time when members of the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC) are clandestinely pushing for a third term.
According to him, if the President is sincere, he must repeat the statement clearly, directly, and without caveats to the Ghanaian public — not to international audiences removed from the country’s political consequences.
“Ghanaians deserve clarity, not whispers abroad. If the President truly has no third-term ambition, he should say it here, loudly and clearly, so that his party members and political operatives hear it and stop pushing dangerous agendas,” the Minority leader stated.
Afenyo-Markin warned that President Mahama’s silence at home has fuelled suspicion that elements within the governing NDC are quietly testing the waters for unconstitutional extensions of power.
He cautioned that Ghana’s democracy has suffered elsewhere on the continent when leaders avoided firm commitments and allowed ambiguity to become a political tool.
He accused the government of presiding over a steady erosion of democratic norms, citing what he described as selective justice, shrinking parliamentary space, abuse of procedural dominance, and increasing intolerance for dissenting voices.
“When the rule of law is enforced based on political convenience rather than evidence, democracy becomes a performance, not a reality,” the Minority Leader said.
He also turned his attention to the judiciary, warning that the courts must resist political pressure and remain faithful to their constitutional mandate.
According to him, public confidence in the justice system is being stretched by perceptions of inconsistency and political interference, especially in cases with major constitutional implications.
“History will judge those who sit in judgment today. Ghanaians are watching, and they will not forget,” he cautioned.
Hon. Afenyo-Markin stressed that their call is not an act of political provocation but a constitutional demand aimed at protecting Ghana’s democratic order.
He pledged the Minority’s commitment to resist any attempt, direct or indirect, to undermine term limits and vowed to use every parliamentary and legal tool available to hold the executive accountable.