Guineans prefer democracy-Afrobarometre Survey
Accra, Sept 07, GNA-Guineans prefer democracy to any other regime, but want two-term limit for presidents, Afrobarometer survey, has revealed.
The Afrobarometer findings, which was made available to the Ghana News Agency, indicated that despite widespread dissatisfaction with the government’s performance, Guineans strongly prefered democracy to any alternative form of governance, the most recent Afrobarometer survey showed.
Barely a year after claiming a third term in office amidst widespread opposition, President Alpha Condé has been detained following a coup d’état last Sunday.
The Coup leader Lieutenant Colonel Mamady Doumbouya had cited pervasive poverty and corruption as reasons for the takeover.
The Afrobarometer findings from late 2019 showed majority of Guineans believed that the country was heading in the wrong direction, that the level of corruption had increased, and that the government was doing a poor job of fighting corruption.
It noted that dissatisfaction with the country’s economic conditions and citizens’ personal living conditions had increased, as had negative ratings of the government’s economic performance and provision of essential public services.
The findings indicated that only three in 10 citizens were satisfied with the way the democracy was “working”.
However, the study also showed that most Guineans endorsed elections as the best way to choose leaders and that citizens’ preference for democracy had remained consistently high over the years.
Key findings were that more than three-fourths (77 per cent l) of Guineans preferred democracy to any other form of government and that support for democracy had remained high since Afrobarometer began its surveys in Guinea in 2013.
It said eight in 10 Guineans (82 per cent) endorsed free, fair, and honest elections as the best way to choose leaders, including 57 per cent who “strongly agree” with that view.
The findings pointed out that similar majority (76 per cent) wanted the president to serve a maximum of two terms in office, and only four in 10 Guineans (40 per cent) described the country as “a full democracy” or “a democracy with minor problems”.
The study said only three in 10 (29 per cent) said they were “fairly satisfied” or “very satisfied” with the way democracy worked, a sharp decline from 2017 (56 per cent) after consistent improvement from 2013 (39 per cent).
It said almost two-thirds of Guineans (64 per cent) said the country was heading in “the wrong direction,” and that the perception that “most” or “all” officials at the Presidency were corrupt had increased from 26 per cent in 2013 to 47 per cent.
The findings said almost two-thirds (63 per cent) of citizens said the level of corruption in the country increased during the year preceding the survey, a 25-percentage-point increased compared to 2015 (38 per cent).
It said eight in 10 citizens (81 per cent) said the government was performing “fairly badly” or “very badly” in fighting corruption, a 27-percentage-point increase compared to 2013 (54 per cent).
The findings said almost seven in 10 citizens (68 per cent) described the country’s economic conditions as “fairly bad” or “very bad,” a significant increase compared to 2013 (59 per cent).
It said the proportion who said their personal living conditions were “fairly bad” or “very bad” had also increased to 64 per cent.
The findings noted that about nine in 10 Guineans said the government was doing “fairly badly” or “very badly” at narrowing income gaps (90 per cent), creating jobs (89 per cent), and improving living standards of the poor (85 per cent).
It showed that seven in 10 (72 per cent) rated the government poorly on its performance in managing the economy.
The findings revealed that overwhelming majorities also said the government was doing a poor job of maintaining roads and bridges (92 per cent), providing water and sanitation services (85 per cent), providing a reliable supply of electricity (83 per cent), addressing educational needs (73 per cent), and improving basic health services (72 per cent).
