MORE THAN half (51 per cent) of some respondents interviewed in a recent Afrobarometer survey held in the country have expressed optimism in the ability of the incumbent New Patriotic Party (NPP) administration to improve the living conditions of citizens.
According to the respondents, they believe that things will be “better” or “much better” in 12 months’ time.
The Afrobarometer survey, conducted between 16 September and 3rd October, this year, was led by the Ghana Center for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana).
It had 2,400 adult Ghanaians as its sample size, which is believed to yield country-level results with a margin of error of +/-2 percentage points at a 95% confidence level.
Respondents also recognised government’s economic successes though but said these were yet to translate into concrete gains.
Such gains include the positive reviews from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank, the critical economic strides made by government including the successful completion of the IMF bailout programme and also the financial sector clean-up.
Opposing views
“Few citizens are content with the country’s economic situation and their personal living conditions, and a majority says the country is headed in the wrong direction,” it pointed out.
The report said Ghanaians’ approval ratings on indicators of their government’s economic performance had declined sharply compared to 2017.
Expectations
The report said six in 10 Ghanaians, representing 59 per cent of the respondents, expected government to construct good roads across the country while 39 per cent respondents, mainly comprising the youth, wanted government to provide jobs.
Thirty-eight per cent of respondents also said citizens needed quality education while 27 per cent spoke on the need for government to prioritise health needs of the people.
Impressions of economy
Only three in 10 Ghanaians (30%) described the country’s economic conditions as “fairly good” or “very good,” a modest decline from 35% recorded in 2017.
Fewer than four in 10 (37%) said their personal living conditions were “fairly good” or “very good.” And only 31% said the country’s economic condition had improved over the past 12 months.
Additionally, six in 10 Ghanaians (59%) said the country was “going in the wrong direction while the share of citizens who saw the country as “going in the right direction” declined by 15 percentage points from 2017, to 35%.
“Majorities of citizens say government is performing “fairly bad” or “very badly” in narrowing income gaps (66%), improving the living standards of the poor (56%), and creating jobs (54%).
“Approval ratings on indicators of the government’s economic performance have declined sharply compared to 2017, with approval on management of the economy recording the steepest drop, by 20 percentage points.”
Afrobarometer conducts face-to-face interviews in the language of the respondent’s choice with nationally representative samples.