The Constitutional Review Committee has proposed constitutional changes that would bind Parliament to Ghana’s National Development Plan in lawmaking and budgeting, according to a report submitted to President John Dramani Mahama on Monday, December 22, 2025. The goal is to ensure consistency between development planning, legislation and public expenditure.
The Committee, chaired by Professor Henry Kwasi Prempeh, Executive Director of the Ghana Centre for Democratic Development (CDD Ghana), links Ghana’s policy instability to legislation passed without alignment to a coherent national development framework, a practice it says has undermined investor confidence and effective planning. According to the report titled “Transforming Ghana: From Electoral Democracy to Developmental Democracy,” laws passed without reference to a coherent national plan have contributed to regulatory volatility, fragmented spending and short term, politically driven decision making.
The proposed solution is a constitutional amendment requiring every Bill introduced in Parliament to demonstrate alignment with the National Development Plan and the Directive Principles of State Policy. These principles, outlined in Chapter 6 of the 1992 Constitution, set out the fundamental economic, social, educational and cultural objectives that should guide governance.
According to the report, “Every Bill introduced in Parliament shall be accompanied by a memorandum which indicates how the proposed legislation advances and is aligned with the National Development Plan and the Directive Principles of State Policy.” This measure would alter how Parliament considers legislation, requiring that proposed laws reflect long term development priorities over immediate political considerations.
More importantly for economic governance, the Committee proposes that legislation contradicting the National Development Plan should face heightened scrutiny. The report states that “where a Bill materially departs from the National Development Plan, [it shall] expressly identify the nature of the departure and provide a reasoned justification demonstrating why such departure is necessary and consistent with the long term national interest.” The provision establishes a framework where departures from national policies must be explained transparently and with sound reasoning, similar to practices in advanced economies.
Aligning the National Development Plan with the Constitution would give businesses and investors greater confidence in Ghana’s policy direction. Laws impacting taxation, trade, industry, energy and infrastructure would be evaluated against the national roadmap, ensuring greater consistency and reducing the likelihood of sudden policy reversals.
The Committee also recommends that constitutional rules governing budgeting be tightened to ensure that public expenditure genuinely reflects national priorities. It proposes that all government spending, including the annual budget and the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF), must clearly demonstrate how public funds contribute to achieving the goals outlined in the National Development Plan.
As stated directly in the report, “All government appropriations, including the annual budget and the Medium Term Expenditure Framework, shall indicate how public funds are to be applied to advance the objectives, priorities, and targets set out in the National Development Plan.” This provision aims to address longstanding concerns that budgets often prioritize short term political projects over strategic investments in productivity, infrastructure and human capital.
While the Committee permits departures from the National Development Plan, it insists that any such divergence be fully disclosed and justified. The report states, “Where any proposed expenditure materially diverges from that Plan, such divergence shall be expressly disclosed and justified.” In doing so, the reform reinforces fiscal discipline, promotes transparency and helps ensure more stable and predictable public finances.
At the heart of the Committee’s proposals is the constitutional anchoring of a long term National Development Plan, aligned with annual budgets and overseen by a strengthened National Development Planning Commission (NDPC). The Committee argues that this framework would transform Ghana from what it describes as an “electoral democracy,” where governance focuses primarily on managing elections, into a “developmental democracy” where governance consistently improves lives.
The Committee conducted extensive nationwide consultations involving more than 21,500 Ghanaians through 10 zonal public engagements across the capitals of the former 10 regions. These engagements attracted 2,436 participants, including youth groups, persons with disabilities, market women, civil society organisations, public and civil servants, district assembly officials, professional bodies, traditional leaders, security agencies, driver associations, students and state institutions.
In addition, 10 thematic stakeholder engagements involving over 500 experts and practitioners were organized, alongside 17 targeted engagements with identifiable groups such as Members of Parliament, the Judiciary, the media, business leaders, academia and youth groups. The Committee also made extensive use of digital platforms, generating over 114,000 impressions on X (formerly Twitter), 192,000 views on Facebook and thousands of views on YouTube.
The Committee warns that Ghana risks becoming a “choiceless democracy,” a system where citizens periodically vote in peaceful elections but experience little change in governance quality or socio economic outcomes. While the 1992 Constitution has delivered political stability, peaceful alternation of power and civil liberties, the Committee argues that it has not sufficiently translated democratic competition into developmental outcomes.
The report’s recommendations are organized into nine substantive chapters covering critical areas such as refocusing the Presidency on strategic national development, making Parliament more responsive and policy driven, improving management of national resources and public finances, restoring trust in accountability institutions, and building a professional and performance oriented public service.
Other chapters focus on promoting equity and inclusion, devolving power and resources to local communities, safeguarding democratic freedoms and stability, and ensuring the Constitution remains a living document capable of responding to evolving national needs.
Professor Prempeh emphasized that the Committee believes the current four year presidential term is insufficient for effective governance and should be extended to five years, which would better align with development planning cycles. However, he refuted suggestions that the proposals seek to introduce a third presidential term for President Mahama, stressing that no such provision exists in the Constitution and that the two term limit would be retained.
On the executive, the Committee recommends lowering the minimum presidential age from 40 to 30, subjecting presidential salaries and benefits to taxation, and stripping Members of Parliament of eligibility for ministerial appointments. It proposes capping the total number of ministers and ending the current hybrid governance system that allows ministers to be appointed from Parliament, which the Committee argues weakens efficiency and accountability.
The Committee also proposes stricter controls on tax exemptions, public borrowing and debt, enhanced independence for the Central Bank and Government Statistician, and constitutional recognition of the State Interests and Governance Authority (SIGA) to improve corporate governance of state owned enterprises, including merit based appointments and fixed tenures for chief executive officers.
To deepen representative democracy, the Committee proposes capping Parliament at 276 members, strengthening constituency engagement, tightening conflict of interest rules and expanding space for private members’ bills. It calls for reforms in political party financing, internal party democracy and the establishment of an independent regulator for political parties.
The report recommends restructuring the Electoral Commission, National Commission for Civic Education and National Media Commission, with clearer appointment processes, security of tenure, improved funding and stronger regulatory mandates, while safeguarding media freedom.
To restore public confidence, the Committee recommends reform of the Council of State, sweeping judicial reforms covering appointments, tenure, removal and financial independence, and the creation of a new constitutional Anti Corruption and Ethics Commission. The Committee also proposes splitting the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) into two separate bodies.
The report calls for depoliticizing the public service, strengthening the Public Services Commission, protecting public officers from political interference, enforcing asset declaration, addressing unexplained wealth and introducing clearer sanctions for misconduct.
President Mahama has promised to implement the recommendations made by the Constitutional Review Committee. In line with this pledge, the president announced plans to form an implementation committee early in 2026 to drive the recommendations forward. Speaking after receiving the Committee’s final report, President Mahama said some members of the Committee would be invited to serve on the implementation panel to help transfer institutional knowledge into the process.
The constitutional amendment process in Ghana is stringent, requiring a two thirds supermajority in Parliament for most provisions. For entrenched provisions, a referendum is required with 40 percent voter turnout and 75 percent approval. The ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) currently holds a supermajority in Parliament for the first time since 1992, potentially easing the path for constitutional amendments.
The successive reform attempts mean that many of the themes are recurrent, and crucially, some of the reforms appear to have broad support among the two main political parties. Notably, there is general consensus that the outsized role of the President in the overall constitutional schema, including control over appointments throughout all levels of the public services and state structure, has retarded the development of independent institutions and hindered credible checks and balances.
This latest effort follows previous stalled attempts at constitutional reform. In 2010, an extensive and participatory reform process produced a series of reform proposals that remain relevant but have not been implemented. In 2023, the Minister for Parliamentary Affairs under the previous administration, Osei Kyei Mensah Bonsu, sought to revive the stalled constitutional review project and established a Constitution Review Consultative Committee to review the 2011 report and make actionable proposals.
The early start of the constitutional reform process soon after President Mahama’s inauguration and the short term of the new Committee mean that specific reform proposals can emerge quickly, enhancing the chances of formal debate and even approval. As it is Mahama’s final term, there is little political incentive for him to backtrack on reform, potentially increasing the likelihood of meaningful constitutional change.