76% of Ghanaians blame government for failing to improve their living standards, according to the Afrobarometer, round 6 results.
The report sampled the views of 2,400 citizens about their economic and living conditions.
The respondents said government is performing very bad or fairly bad in improving the living standards of the poor.
The survey also revealed that majority of Ghanaians say their current economic conditions have worsened compared to the same period a year ago.
Another 70% of Ghanaians believe government has been ineffective or very ineffective in using oil revenues to improve living conditions
The findings also indicate that nearly four in 10 Ghanaians are pessimistic about economic conditions in the coming year.
The data is being released as Ghana seeks support from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and other development partners in an effort to boost international confidence and solicit support for the country’s economic stabilization and growth programme.
The nation’s economy has been hit with high inflation rates, rising cost of living and huge public debt.
Many of those interviewed said the government had failed to use the recent oil revenue to improve the state of the nation and boost economic growth.
Some admitted being unable to access healthcare, clean water and other basic necessities.
Labour unions across the country staged demonstrations to protest the rising cost of living and are currently on another strike protesting government’s failure to pay their tier-two pension proceeds into a special account.
Key findings
- Large majorities of Ghanaians gave ratings of “fairly bad” or “very bad” to government’s performance in managing key macro-economic indicators such as the economy (72%), improving living standards of the poor (76%), creating jobs (76%), keeping prices down (81%), and narrowing gaps between rich and poor (76%).
- Ghanaians consider economic management (18%) as the most important problem that they want government to address. This is followed by education and electricity (12% each) and health (10%).
- Two-thirds (66%) of Ghanaians say the government is managing their topmost priority (i.e.the first most important problem) “fairly badly” or “very badly” (Figure 2).
- An overwhelming majority of Ghanaians (82%) say the country is moving in the “wrong direction,” compared to 57% who thought so in 2012.
Citifmonline/African Eye News
