Dr Jeffrey Haynes, Professor Emeritus of Politics, London Metropolitan University, UK
By Professor Jeffrey Haynes
Ghana is one of Africa’s most stable democracies, with comparatively peaceful elections since 1992. However, the country has long faced challenges including corruption, political polarisation, some weaknesses in judicial independence, and economic difficulties that threaten to undermine public trust and democratic quality.
Satisfaction with democracy in Ghana is currently declining due to economic hardships and governance issues, although a majority of citizens still prefer it over non-democratic alternatives, such as military rule or one-party rule, that is, when only one political party is allowed, as in China.
Recent Afrobarometer data (Round 10) from late 2024 to early 2025 indicates that only 51% of Ghanaians are satisfied with how democracy is working in the country, a significant decrease from previous years when approval was higher.
What drives citizen’s dissatisfaction with democracy? There are three main reasons: First, economic hardships, the rising cost of living, and a perceived gap between political promises and reality are major factors in citizen discontent. Second, there is growing distrust in public institutions, including concerns over corruption in the judiciary and political manoeuvring. Third, satisfaction with democracy among Ghanaians is largely shaped by citizens’ evaluations of the political and economic performance of their leaders. Unsurprisingly, when leaders are perceived not to be delivering on their promises, voter satisfaction falls. We can see this is the landslide victory of the National Democratic Congress in presidential and parliamentary elections a year ago: the incumbent New Patriotic Party government was not seen by a majority of Ghanaians to be delivering for them and as a result it was summarily ousted.
In summary, while Ghana remains a stable democracy with robust institutions and an engaged electorate, current economic and governance challenges may test public satisfaction, leading to demands for better performance and leaders’ accountability. Despite strong support for democratic ideals among Ghanaians, many are disappointed with how democracy is working in practice and worried about its future.
A crisis of democracy is not confined to Ghana and extends to many Western countries. Satisfaction with democracy is below 50% in eight out of nine Western countries surveyed in a recent Ipsos poll, and majorities in all but one fear for its future, with fake news, lack of political accountability, extremism and corruption seen as the biggest threats. While thankfully extremism is not something that Ghana has regularly to deal with, both political accountability and corruption are continuing, serious constraints on popular acceptance of democracy. It will come as little comfort to many Ghanaians that such problems are also occupying the minds of voters in the West.
A recent Ipsos survey of almost 10,000 people in Croatia, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States found satisfaction with democracy low in all except Sweden, with deep concerns about the future state of electoral politics.
In many western countries, notably the Netherlands and France, despite significant support for democratic ideals, concern about democracy is growing fast, with a strong desire for ‘radical change’ in almost all of them.
Across the nine countries recently surveyed by Ipsos, more people said democracy had got worse rather than had better in the past five years, with views in France and the Netherlands – whose governments collapsed during the year – particularly negative, with Poland the only exception.
Few people surveyed by Ipsos felt governments at any level represented their views well, although local government did better. In none of the nine did a majority feel that their national government represented their views ‘a great deal’ or ‘fair amount’.
Nonetheless, there was strong support for democracy across most countries, with clear majorities saying it was crucial to society and worth defending. Croatia was the only country to feel that it should be contingent on it delivering a good quality of life.
Among a range of potential solutions for strengthening democracy, respondents identified mainly stronger anti-corruption laws and enforcement, stronger regulation of social media, better civic education and protecting the independence of the courts. It would be interesting to know if voters agreed that these measures would also bolster democracy in Ghana.
The current government took office less than a year ago and is still in what might be called its honeymoon period. A July 2025 poll by Global InfoAnalytics indicates that a majority of Ghanaians continue to believe that the country is headed in the right direction: 70% of voters compared to 20% who believe it is headed in the wrong direction. A majority of voters in every region except Ashanti say the country is headed in the right direction. In addition, 73% of voters in July 2025 approved of the way the president is doing his job while 19% disapproved. A majority of voters in all the regions approve of President Mahama’s job performance, a major shift in polling history: that is, where voters from the stronghold of the main opposition party approve of the performance of the president. Government approval is also high: in July 2025, 18% responded that it was performing excellently, 61% very good/good, 10% as average and 11% as poor/very poor.
So, for the current government: so far, so good. But things can change, and it is important that the government strives to match citizens’ demand for democracy with supply that builds trust and confidence.
The writer is an Emeritus Professor of Politics at London Metropolitan University, UK.
About The Author
There can be hardly any doubt that the main worries of some European countries are shared by many Ghanaians. Anti-corruption laws and implementation, independent judiciary, media reforms and civic education. From my private perspective, it perfectly describes opinions of Ghanaians. I was amazed seeing the comparison for so well!