By The Rio Times | Created at 2026-10-08 17:02:13 | Updated at 2026-10-08 19:37:56
4 hours ago
GHANA · POLITICS
Key Facts
- —The country About 34.4 million people in West Africa, per a 2026 official projection.
- —Who governs President John Mahama of the NDC, in office since 7 January 2025.
- —Parliament The NDC holds 185 of 276 seats; the NPP holds 87.
- —What happened The NPP elected John Boadu national chairman on 3 October 2026.
- —Still open Mahama cannot run again; the NDC has no 2028 candidate yet.
A term-limited president with a two-thirds majority faces an opposition that has already chosen its 2028 challenger.
Ghana politics in October 2026 revolves around a president who cannot run again and a governing party with two-thirds of Parliament. John Mahama, sworn in on Tuesday, 7 January 2025, is serving his second and final elected term.
Every president since Jerry John Rawlings in 2001 has respected the two-term limit, a government-appointed review committee noted in its final report.
How Ghana Politics Works Under the 1992 Constitution
Ghana’s 1992 Constitution makes the president head of state, head of government and commander-in-chief of the armed forces. Ghanaians call this order the Fourth Republic, and the current Parliament is its ninth.
A president serves four years from the day of swearing-in, and inaugurations fall on 7 January. Article 66(2) says no one may be elected president more than twice.
Mahama’s Constitution Review Committee found that the limit applies whether or not the two terms are consecutive. It proposed no change to that clause.
A presidential candidate needs a majority of valid votes in the first round, or a run-off follows. Parliament’s 276 members are elected on the same day, one per constituency.
Voters often split their ticket, a habit Ghanaians call “skirt and blouse” voting. The review committee warned that this can leave a president facing a Parliament run by rivals.
The system is a hybrid of presidential and parliamentary rule. Article 78(1) requires most ministers to be drawn from Parliament, and they keep their seats while serving.
The review committee said the rule has been blamed for weakening Parliament. Article 76(1) caps the cabinet itself at 19 ministers.
Below the national level, Ghana has 16 regions and 261 metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies. The president appoints a minister for each region.
The president also nominates each district chief executive, the head of a local assembly’s administration. A nominee needs approval from two-thirds of assembly members present and voting.
Article 276(1) bars chiefs from active party politics. A 2022 Supreme Court ruling lets them comment on policies but not endorse parties or candidates, the review committee notes.
The wider background on the country and its economy is in the Rio Times guide Ghana Explained.
President John Mahama and His Government
John Dramani Mahama of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) has held office since 7 January 2025. He previously served as president until January 2017, and before that as vice-president.
The Presidency calls him the first Ghanaian president democratically elected to a non-consecutive second term. Born in Damongo, in today’s Savannah Region, he was earlier an MP and communications minister.
The Electoral Commission’s updated declaration of 10 January 2025 gave Mahama 6,591,790 votes, or 56.42%. Mahamudu Bawumia of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) won 4,877,611 votes, or 41.75%.
That count covered 275 of 276 constituencies, with turnout of 63.97% among about 18.7 million registered voters there. The commission stressed that the outcome of the vote of 7 December 2024 was unchanged.
Naana Jane Opoku-Agyemang is vice-president, the first woman to hold the post. A literature scholar, she was education minister from 2013 to 2017.
Key ministers as of October 2026 include Cassiel Ato Forson at Finance and Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa at Foreign Affairs. Muntaka Mohammed-Mubarak is Interior Minister, and Dominic Ayine is Attorney-General.
Kenneth Gilbert Adjei is Minister of Defence, the Ghana News Agency (GNA) reported in October 2026. Julius Debrah is Chief of Staff, and Felix Kwakye Ofosu is presidential spokesperson.
The defence post changed hands after a tragedy. On Wednesday, 6 August 2025, a helicopter crash killed Defence Minister Edward Omane Boamah, Environment Minister Ibrahim Murtala Muhammed and six others.
In late August 2026, Mahama brought two more lawmakers into the cabinet. Mahama Ayariga took Local Government, Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs, and Zanetor Agyeman-Rawlings took Environment, Science and Technology.
Mahama told Agyeman-Rawlings to lead the fight against galamsey, the illegal gold mining that fouls rivers and forests. He called it one of the gravest threats to national survival.
The Presidency brands the government’s programme “Resetting Ghana”. Its 24-Hour Economy plan includes new model markets, such as 18 begun in the Volta Region in July 2026, GNA reported.
Parliament and the NDC Supermajority
The ninth Parliament was inaugurated on 7 January 2025. As of October 2026, Parliament’s website lists 185 NDC members, 87 NPP members and four independents.
That gives the NDC just over two-thirds of the 276 seats, one more than the 184 needed. Most constitutional clauses can be amended by two-thirds of all MPs without a referendum.
The governing party can therefore, in principle, carry such votes on its own. Entrenched clauses also need a referendum, in which 40% of registered voters must take part and 75% must vote yes.
Alban S. K. Bagbin is Speaker, an office that ranks third in precedence after the President and Vice-President, Parliament notes. Bernard Ahiafor and Andrews Asiamah Amoako are his deputies.
James Agalga leads government business as Majority Leader, with Rockson-Nelson Dafeamekpor as Majority Chief Whip. For the NPP, Alexander Afenyo-Markin is Minority Leader and Frank Annoh-Dompreh is Minority Chief Whip.
Because ministers keep their seats, much of the cabinet also votes in the chamber. Finance Minister Ato Forson, for example, has represented Ajumako-Enyan-Esiam since 2009, the Presidency says.
Bawumia and the Rebuilt NPP Opposition
The NPP governed from 2017 to January 2025 under President Nana Akufo-Addo, with Bawumia as vice-president. It is now the main opposition, and it has moved early to prepare for 2028.
On Saturday, 31 January 2026, party delegates chose Bawumia again as presidential candidate. He won 110,643 of 195,901 valid votes, about 56%, in a result declared by an Electoral Commission official.
Kennedy Ohene Agyapong, a former MP for Assin Central, came second with about 24%. Bryan Acheampong was third with about 19%.
On Saturday, 3 October 2026, NPP delegates in Kumasi elected national officers for the next four years. John Boadu, a former general secretary, became national chairman with 2,888 votes.
Justin Frimpong Kodua kept his post as general secretary with 4,486 votes, GNA reported. Kojo Fosu Boadu, Henry Nana Boakye and Nana Akomea are vice-chairpersons, and Daniel Nii Kwartei Titus-Glover is national organiser.
Bawumia has attacked the government on jobs, the economy and the justice system. He says Free Senior High School, the free secondary schooling introduced under the NPP in 2017, has deteriorated, citing school meals.
Education Minister Haruna Iddrisu rejected the claim on 7 October 2026, saying some problems were inherited, Citi Newsroom reported. Some NPP figures also call corruption cases against party members political intimidation.
In October 2026, NPP MP Kingsley Nyarko condemned the detention of Manhyia South MP Nana Agyei Baffour Awuah as intimidation. The Economic and Organised Crime Office, a state agency that investigates economic crime, had held him.
Baffour Awuah was later granted bail and charged with causing financial loss to a public body and money laundering. He pleaded not guilty, Citi Newsroom reported.
Smaller parties barely register. The Convention People’s Party of independence leader Kwame Nkrumah won 0.20% of the 2024 presidential vote.
The strongest independent candidate, Nana Kwame Bediako, won 0.76%. Four independents now sit in Parliament.
Courts, the Chief Justice and Constitutional Reform
The chief justice heads the Judiciary and is appointed by the president with Parliament’s approval. The president must first consult the Council of State, a constitutional advisory body.
On Monday, 1 September 2025, Mahama removed Chief Justice Gertrude Torkornoo under Article 146 of the Constitution. A committee examining a citizen’s petition had found grounds of stated misbehaviour, the Presidency said.
Paul Baffoe-Bonnie, acting chief justice in October 2025, now holds the post, the Judiciary’s reports show. At the opening of the legal year on Saturday, 3 October 2026, the Judiciary said his service ends later this year.
Supreme Court justices must retire at 70. On 10 September 2026, Mahama swore in three new Supreme Court justices, bringing the bench to 17.
They include Edward Amoako Asante, a former president of the ECOWAS Court of Justice, the court of the West African regional bloc. “Judicial independence is not a privilege granted to judges for their personal benefit,” Mahama said at the ceremony.
Constitutional reform is the other big institutional project. A review committee chaired by H. Kwasi Prempeh delivered its final report on Monday, 22 December 2025.
Prempeh led CDD-Ghana, a governance think tank, when Mahama appointed him. The government’s position paper, approved by the cabinet on 14 July 2026 and published on 30 July, accepts several big changes.
It backs five-year presidential and parliamentary terms, up from four, and a presidential vote in the first week of November. It also proposes lowering the minimum age for president from 40 to 35.
The paper would cap the number of ministers at 60. It rejects the committee’s call to bar MPs from serving as ministers.
Changes to entrenched clauses would go to a referendum, which the government wants held with the 2027 district assembly elections. The paper does not say when a longer presidential term would first apply.
Security Chiefs, Traditional Rulers and Local Power
Lieutenant General William Agyapong is Chief of the Defence Staff, the Presidency said in July 2026. He joined the Armed Forces Council in that role in April 2025, when he was a major general.
Christian Tetteh Yohuno is Inspector-General of Police, the head of the national police service. The Interior Ministry oversees policing, while the Defence Ministry oversees the Ghana Armed Forces.
Mahama has also used soldiers for civil tasks. In September 2026 he thanked the armed forces for helping clear waste from Agbogloshie, a dumping site in Accra.
Security worries are concentrated in the north. Mahama has called the long-running conflict in Bawku, in Ghana’s far north-east, a grave challenge to national peace.
In July 2025 he praised peace efforts by the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, king of the Asante. He also commended the Naa-Yiri, overlord of the Mamprugu kingdom, for his restraint.
Traditional rulers remain influential in Ghana politics, even though the Constitution keeps them out of party contests. In January 2025, days after taking office, Mahama pledged to involve traditional leaders in governance, especially in enforcing environmental laws.
Local power may shift too. The government wants every district chief executive elected, with voters choosing among candidates the president nominates and a panel vets.
The Road to the 2028 Election
The next general election is due in late 2028, with the new president sworn in on 7 January 2029. Under current practice the vote falls in early December; the 2024 election was on Saturday, 7 December 2024.
Mahama cannot stand, so the NDC must choose a new presidential candidate. As of 8 October 2026, it had not named one.
The party is led by national chairman Johnson Asiedu Nketiah and general secretary Fifi Fiavi Kwetey. In October 2026 it was holding constituency and regional executive elections, with national officer elections still to come.
Deputy general secretary Mustapha Gbande has said internal division, not the NPP’s new leadership, is the party’s biggest threat, Citi Newsroom reported. Youth Minister George Opare Addo urged the NDC not to copy what he called the NPP’s aggressive politics.
The Electoral Commission runs national elections and, under Article 46 of the Constitution, is not subject to any authority’s direction. Jean Mensa chairs the seven-member commission.
Two of its three most senior posts changed in 2026. Deputy chair Bossman Asare resigned from 31 July, and deputy chair Samuel Tettey retired; Mahama has nominated a successor.
The commission also faces a possible referendum on constitutional changes in 2027. Day-to-day coverage is collected on the Rio Times Ghana news page.
What It Means for US Readers
Ghana politics matters to Washington because power has changed hands through elections, under respected term limits, since 2001. With a projected 34.4 million people in 2026, Ghana is one of West Africa’s larger countries.
In foreign policy, the Mahama government is widening its options. On Tuesday, 6 October 2026, Foreign Minister Ablakwa said the cabinet had decided to apply to join BRICS.
BRICS is a bloc of emerging economies that includes Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. Ablakwa said Ghana would keep its traditional partners but “must have new friends”.
The details are in the Rio Times report on the BRICS bid.
Ghana also led a United Nations General Assembly resolution, backed by 123 countries, calling the transatlantic slave trade a crime against humanity. Ghana tabled it in March 2026 for the African Union and CARICOM, the Caribbean community.
Ghana’s Office of the Special Prosecutor has charged former finance minister Ken Ofori-Atta and seven others in a contract case. It has sent an extradition request to the US Justice Department, GNA reported.
Ofori-Atta, who is in the United States, also faces separate US immigration proceedings. INTERPOL deleted a Red Notice against him in February 2026, saying it appeared “of a predominantly political character”, according to his lawyer.
For investors, the Ghana Statistical Service puts inflation at 5.2% in September 2026 and economic growth at 6.0% in 2025. The figures are tracked in Rio Times coverage of September inflation.
The State Department rates Ghana at Level 2, “Exercise increased caution”, in an advisory issued on 7 July 2026. It advises reconsidering travel to the northern border areas and part of the Savannah Region, citing crime.
Washington’s trade, visa and security ties with Accra are set out in Ghana Geopolitics Explained.
What Is Not Known
The NDC has not named its 2028 presidential candidate. Its national officer elections had not taken place as of 8 October 2026.
No successor to Chief Justice Baffoe-Bonnie, whose service ends later in 2026, had been announced by the Presidency. Parliament would have to approve any nominee.
It is not known whether the constitutional amendments will pass, or when a referendum will be held. The position paper does not say whether a five-year term would apply to the president elected in 2028.
The outcome of Ghana’s extradition request for Ofori-Atta is not known. It is not confirmed whether both vacant deputy posts at the Electoral Commission have been filled.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is the president of Ghana in 2026?
John Dramani Mahama of the National Democratic Congress has been president since 7 January 2025. His vice-president is Naana Jane Opoku-Agyemang, the first woman in the post.
Can John Mahama run again in 2028?
No. Article 66(2) of the Constitution bars anyone from being elected president more than twice, and Mahama has now been elected twice.
Who leads the opposition in Ghana?
Former vice-president Mahamudu Bawumia is the New Patriotic Party’s 2028 candidate, and John Boadu is its national chairman. Alexander Afenyo-Markin leads its MPs as Minority Leader.
When is Ghana’s next election?
Presidential and parliamentary elections are due in late 2028, under current practice in early December. The government backs moving the presidential vote to the first week of November.
Who is Ghana’s chief justice?
Paul Baffoe-Bonnie is chief justice, after Gertrude Torkornoo was removed in September 2025. The Judiciary says his service ends later in 2026.
Is Ghana joining BRICS?
The cabinet has decided to apply, Foreign Minister Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa said on 6 October 2026. Membership would still need the bloc’s approval.
Is Ghana safe to visit for Americans?
The US State Department rates Ghana at Level 2, “Exercise increased caution”, in an advisory of July 2026. It advises reconsidering travel to northern border areas because of crime.
Sources: The Presidency, President Mahama’s profile; The Presidency, members of the cabinet; The Presidency, Ayariga and Agyeman-Rawlings sworn in; The Presidency, chief justice removed; The Presidency, meeting with the acting chief justice; The Presidency, new Supreme Court justices; The Presidency, Constitution Review Committee report; Constitution Review Committee, final report; Government position paper on the review; The Presidency, Electoral Commission deputies; The Presidency, Chief of the Defence Staff sworn in; The Presidency, July 2026 ceremony with the Chief of the Defence Staff; The Presidency, helicopter crash anniversary; The Presidency, Agbogloshie remarks; The Presidency, Bawku mediation; The Presidency, UN resolution backed by 123 countries; The Presidency, UN resolution tabled; Parliament of Ghana; Parliament of Ghana, leadership; Judicial Service, 69th legal year; Electoral Commission, 2024 presidential results; Electoral Commission, about the commission; Electoral Commission, statement on the helicopter crash; Ghana Statistical Service; US State Department, Ghana travel advisory; National Democratic Congress; GNA, Defence Minister; GNA, Inspector-General of Police; GNA, Interior Minister; GNA, NPP presidential primary; GNA, primary result declared; GNA, NPP national officers; GNA, NDC statement on NPP officers; GNA, NDC national chairman; GNA, 24-Hour Economy markets; GNA, BRICS application; GNA, Ofori-Atta charges; GNA, US proceedings on Ofori-Atta; GNA, INTERPOL Red Notice; GNA, Electoral Commission vacancies; Citi Newsroom, Bawumia on Free SHS; Citi Newsroom, Iddrisu reply; Citi Newsroom, Baffour Awuah detention; Citi Newsroom, Baffour Awuah charged; Citi Newsroom, Gbande; Citi Newsroom, Opare Addo (all accessed 8 October 2026).
