Ghana’s political landscape has been thrown into another major constitutional battle after the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) filed a case at the Supreme Court seeking a definitive interpretation of the country’s presidential two-term limit.
The action could have major implications for President John Dramani Mahama’s eligibility to contest another presidential election in 2028. Although Mahama is not personally named as the defendant, the Attorney-General is being sued in a case directly touching on the constitutional question surrounding presidential tenure.
According to court documents reported on October 28, the NPP’s writ and statement of case are dated July 28, 2026, and were filed through former Attorney-General Godfred Yeboah Dame of Dame & Partners.
At the center of the dispute is Article 66(2) of Ghana’s 1992 Constitution, which limits how many times a person may be elected President.
The NPP wants the Supreme Court to declare that the maximum is two presidential terms in total, regardless of whether those terms are served consecutively or separated by years outside office. It is also asking the court to affirm that no individual may be elected President more than twice or serve more than two four-year terms.
The constitutional debate has intensified because Mahama previously served as President from 2013 to 2017 before returning to office on January 7, 2025.
Separate cases already before the Supreme Court have argued that a break between presidential terms could potentially reset the constitutional count, allowing a former president to seek additional consecutive terms.
The NPP strongly disagrees with that interpretation, arguing that reading “consecutive” into the constitutional provision would effectively rewrite the Constitution through judicial interpretation.
President Mahama has previously distanced himself from any third-term ambition, saying he considers the constitutional wording clear and believes Ghanaians gave him only one additional term when he returned to office.
With the Supreme Court now facing competing arguments over one of Ghana’s most consequential constitutional provisions, its eventual decision could settle the presidential term-limit debate far beyond Mahama’s current administration.
