Lawyer Martin Kpebu has described late President Professor John Evans Atta Mills as the only honest president Ghana has had under the Fourth Republican dispensation.
According to him, all other presidents since 1992 are dishonest, adding that, Ghana at the moment needs a benevolent dictator.
Kpebu, who was speaking on TV3's Key Points on Saturday, October 22, wondered when Ghana was going to experience such a leader.
"Some say we need a benevolent dictator but this benevolent dictator, this argument has been made for over 30 years since I became conscious but we haven’t seen it.
“All the presidents we have had apart from Atta Mills who is honest, the rest are very dishonest, so where are we going to get the benevolent dictator from?
“Atta Mills has been the honest man, the rest are not, I am talking about the Fourth Republic. Atta Mills, people will die and say he was an honest man. Apart from [him], I don’t know either of them that is said to be honest.
“So this thing about a benevolent dictator, yes, but when is that going to come?”
Martin Kpebu noted that the 1992 Constitution has some defects that must be corrected through amendments.
He observed that the current state of the constitution is lopsided, giving too much power to the President.
“The best is that we can work out this democracy by fixing the constitution, this constitution is too lopsided, it is giving the president too much power,” he said.
President John Agyekum Kufuor completed his second term in office in 2009 having taken office in 2000 from the late Jerry John Rawlings. It was Rawlings who kick-started the Fourth Republic in 1993, serving two terms till 2001.
The election to replace Kufuor was between Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and the late John Evans Atta-Mills. The latter contesting for the third consecutive time beat Akufo-Addo in a runoff vote.
Mills died while in office paving the way for his then Vice President John Dramani Mahama to become president. Mahama won the 2012 polls but lost his re-election bid to Akufo-Addo in 2016.
Akufo-Addo beat him in 2020 with both men seeking re-election, that is their final terms in office.
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Martin Kpebu