Governance Analyst Prof. Kwaku Agyeman-Duah has expressed strong opposition to the Constitution Review Committee’s (CRC) recommendation to reduce the minimum age requirement for presidential candidates from 40 to 30 years.
He argued that the office of President demands a level of maturity, judgment, and experience that most individuals at the age of 30 are unlikely to have attained.
The Chairman of the CRC, Professor H. Kwasi Prempeh, has indicated that the Committee is proposing an amendment to Article 62(b) of the 1992 Constitution to lower the age threshold for contesting the presidency from 40 to 30 years.
However, speaking in an interview on JoyNews on Saturday, December 27, Prof. Agyeman-Duah questioned the justification for the proposal, stressing that presidential leadership requires significant exposure and practical experience.
“Personally, I didn’t like the idea of reducing the age from 40 to 30 because I think that at 30 years you don’t have enough maturity. Pardon me for those who think I am wrong,” he said.
He further argued that Ghana’s socio-economic realities make it difficult for young people to acquire the depth of experience needed to govern effectively by that age.
“I think if you take the Ghanaian context into account, for instance, most Ghanaians from the villages, as I come from, by the time you finish your first degree, you are almost 27 or 28. And even if by then you have finished your master’s degree, what experience do you have, what exposure have you had to run the country? Because running the country is not running NUGS organisations,” he explained.
Prof. Agyeman-Duah also noted that age often comes with a broader perspective and sound judgment, which he believes are essential for effective state leadership.
“At my age, I know that 30 years simply, you haven’t attained the age of maturity to run a state,” he stated.
The CRC recently submitted its constitutional review report to the President, proposing several reforms to the 1992 Constitution. The recommendation to lower the presidential age requirement has since generated widespread public debate.
