Former Chief Justice Sophia Akuffo has called for stronger constitutional safeguards to prevent the excessive concentration of power in the hands of the President.
She said while the President must be given sufficient authority to govern, such powers should be exercised within clearly defined constitutional limits and subject to effective checks and balances.
“Presidents should have powers, but they cannot be unfettered powers,” she said.
Speaking on Channel One TV on Wednesday, September 2, 2026, Sophia Akuffo said Ghana’s democratic system requires stronger enforcement of the separation of powers to ensure that none of the three arms of government operates without adequate oversight.
She said a clearer enforcement of the separation of powers would help strengthen democratic governance and ensure greater accountability in the exercise of state power.
The former Chief Justice and Fellow at the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) also said the experience of operating the 1992 Constitution over the years had exposed several weaknesses that required attention.
She argued that addressing those gaps was necessary to build a more sustainable democratic system and restore public confidence in Ghana’s democratic institutions.
“In many ways, our Constitution has worked out for us over the years of its existence; it has created a lot of anomalies which we must correct to move our democracy on to the next level for sustainability because people are getting fed up,” she said.
Sophia Akuffo said constitutional reforms should therefore focus on establishing stronger guardrails around the exercise of presidential power and ensuring effective checks among the three arms of government.