President Nana Akufo-Addo
A significant minority of Ghanaians believe President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo’s Government will perform “much better or better” in public or social service delivery in the next four years, Center for Democratic Development Ghana (CDD-Ghana) 2020 Post-Election Survey Findings have said.
It said 62 per cent of Ghanaians were not confident in the ability of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government to curb corruption and impunity by its officials in the next four years.
Another 53 per cent of the population is not confident in Government’s ability to protect the country’s financial resources by promoting accountability in public service.
These formed part of highlights from the survey conducted from Sunday, May 23, 2021 to Thursday, June 3, 2021.
Director of Research, CDD-Ghana, Dr Edem Selormey at a public briefing on Tuesday on the survey, said it was conducted with a sample size of 2,400 randomly selected adult citizens.
She said the questions asked were to gauge citizens’ opinions on a number of issues including;, their interpretation of the outcome of the elections, particularly that of the parliamentary; their expectations of the likely impact of the current “hung” parliament; their expectations of the likely impact of the election of NDC member as Speaker of Parliament and their expectations regarding the performance of the NPP government in the next four years.
Dr Selormey said 41 per cent of citizens were less optimistic about Government’s ability to reduce crime, 35 per cent were confident whilst 21 per cent believed that Government’s fight against crime would remain the same.
The survey findings said 52 per cent of respondents were confident that Government would be able to consolidate the gains of the Free Senior High School Programme as pledged in the NPP 2020 manifesto.
However, the findings showed that 57 per cent of the population was less confident that Government would be able to expand the One District, One Factory initiative across the country as pledged in the manifesto.
Touching on top five policy priorities for Ghanaians, which needed Government’s attention, Dr Selormey said 57 per cent of Ghanaians opted for unemployment, 36 per cent chose infrastructure and roads, 36 per cent suggested education, 32 went for management of the economy and 19 per cent recommended health.
The findings said 36 per cent of Ghanaians said in case Government wanted to increase public spending, they should channel it towards Education, 26 per cent suggested infrastructure, 14 per cent went for healthcare and 10 per cent, agriculture.
The Director of Research said a cumulative 58 per cent of respondents attributed the reduction in President Nana Akufo-Addo’s vote margin to his policy decision and actions, NPP’s Members of Parliament (MPs) and appointee’s and the President’s performance.
They said the loss of seats by the NPP was as a result of the MPs “non-performance” and NPP’s “bad campaign”.
Dr Selormey said respondents attributed the gains the NDC made in the parliamentary elections to NPP MPs non-performance and the NDC’s campaign.
GNA