The Government has rejected the Afrobarometer report on Ghana, which stated that 76 percent of Ghanaians blame government for failing to improve their living standards.
The report, which sampled the views of 2,400 citizens about their economic and living conditions, stated that one in 10 Ghanaians were pessimistic about the country’s economic prospects for 2015.
The government has, however, rubbished the report, saying that the sample size of the respondents is not proportional to the population of Ghanaians.
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Key findings of Afrobarometer report
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
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[contextly_sidebar id=”kC3Rg5AbaCcHDjY3qgglanyBvMa3XaZs”]According to the Deputy Communications Minister, Felix Kwakye-Ofosu, the fact that 750 people out of the 2,400 respondents were selected from the Ashanti and Eastern regions compromises the political objectivity of the findings.
Mr. Kwakye-Ofosu also noted that the survey was conducted at a time when the country was facing severe economic conditions which may not be prevalent in the country currently.
The report was released as the country’s economy appears to be showing signs of recovery after it struggled for most of the year prompting demonstrations and industrial actions from various organisations and groups.
The cedi is also beginning to stabilise after depreciating by as much as 40 percent during the year and is appreciating against the major international currencies.
By: Edwin Kwakofi/citifmonline.com/Ghana