Accra, Ghana//-Latest survey released today by Afrobarometer, a pan-African, non-partisan survey research network, revealed that a shocking 82% of Ghanaians say the country is heading in the wrong direction.
This is the highest disapproval by Ghanaians since the start of the Afrobarometer surveys. It also offered negative assessments of the country’s economic condition and their living conditions.
Although ratings of the government’s economic performance in the survey have declined sharply and are overwhelmingly negative, fewer Ghanaians, which is 45%, expect the country’s economic condition to improve over the coming year.
The latest survey, which is part of the Afrobarometer Round 10 (R10) surveys, found out seven in 10 Ghanaians say they or someone in their household went without a cash income at least once during the previous year. Many also report shortages of medical care (54%), water (44%), food (44%), and cooking fuel (42%).
In the past 12 months, eight in 10 Ghanaians (82%) have experienced low, moderate, or high levels of lived poverty, the Director of Research of Ghana Center for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana), Dr Edem Selormey, added when she was presenting the findings in Accra.
Since 2017, the share of Ghanaians who have experienced moderate or high poverty has increased from 19% to 45%, she stated.
Unemployment tops Ghanaians’ priorities.
Touching on the most important problems, she revealed that unemployment tops Ghanaians’ priorities amidst strong support for key government initiatives.
Ghanaians identify unemployment as the most important issue for the government to address, followed closely by infrastructure/roads and health, Dr Selormey noted.
Furthermore, citizens express widespread support for the continuation of government initiatives aimed at social and economic improvement. Large majorities back the free senior high school programme as well as the planting/rearing for food and jobs, one district, one factory, and one village, one dam initiatives.
In contrast, more than three-quarters of citizens prefer that the electronic transactions levy (e-levy) be discontinued. Many Ghanaians experienced some level of lived poverty in the past year, suffering shortages of necessities such as food and clean water. Large majorities of citizens rate the government’s economic performance negatively.
The survey’s respondents’ ratings of the government’s economic performance are overwhelmingly negative. Whereas fewer than two in 10 Ghanaians rate the government positively on managing the economy (19%), creating jobs (18%), improving living standards of the poor (17%), narrowing gaps between rich and poor (11%) and keeping prices stable (8%).
Paid bribe to access public services
The survey once again found out that 52% of Ghanaians paid brides to the men and women of the Ghana Police Service in 2024 before they could obtain police assistance. This figure is higher when compared to that of 2022, which was 45%.
It is also surprising that 40% paid bribes to officials of state institutions to obtain identity documents. This is one of the reasons why some countries, especially those in the West and Europe, have little respect for national identification documents.
Electricity supply
The survey revealed that nine out of 10 Ghanaians (90%) have electricity connected to their homes. Among those who have a connection, 75% say power is available all or most of the time.
Additionally, about half (52%) of Ghanaians who sought police assistance during the previous year say they had to pay a bribe. More than half of citizens say the government is doing a good job on education (51%) and provision of electricity (53%), but fewer approve of its performance on health care, water and sanitation and maintaining roads and bridges, the survey noted.
Evaluation of government public service delivery performance was above average for educational needs and provision of water, respectively, it stated.
Discussing the survey findings at a panel discussion moderated by Ms Marie-Noellete Nwokolo at ACET with Professor William Brafo-Isaidoo, Democracy and Development Fellow at CDD-Ghana; Dr Agyapomaa Gyeke-Darke, an Associate Professor of Economics of the University of Ghana Business School; and Ms Gifty Boahemaa Appea, Programme Coordinator at Youth Advocates Ghana said they were not surprised about the findings.
They said the findings were the true reflection of what was about the Ghanaian economy.
Afrobarometer surveys conducted nine survey rounds in up to 42 countries have been completed since 1999. The Round 10 surveys were launched in January 2024. Afrobarometer’s national partners conduct face-to-face interviews in the language of the respondent’s choice.
Its team in Ghana, led by the Ghana Center for Democratic Development, interviewed a nationally representative sample of 2,400 adult Ghanaians in August 2024. A sample of this size yields country-level results with a margin of error of +/-2 percentage points at a 95% confidence level. Previous surveys were conducted in Ghana in 1999, 2002, 2005,2008, 2012, 2014, 2017, 2019, and 2022.
