Ghana Is a “Flawed Democracy” – EIU Report

The report says Ghanaians have lost confidence in public institutions

Ghana has been graded a “flawed democracy” in the latest Democracy Index Report by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU).

Ghana appeared in the same category as the United States of America, which according to the report, was a standard-bearer in democratic practices. The report themed “Revenge of the Deplorables” mentions Norway as the lead in a pack of 34 “ full democracies” in the world.

The US, the report says, has been downgraded due to the fall in public confidence in public institutions, leading to the election of President Donald Trump.

On Ghana and Africa, the report said even though “Political participation and political culture have improved over the past five years (albeit with a few notable exceptions), it has been offset by deteriorating scores for civil liberties and the functioning of government.

Moreover, while elections have become commonplace across much of the region, the regional score for electoral processes has remained persistently low, reflecting a lack of genuine pluralism in most countries”.

On electoral process and pluralism, Ghana scored 8.33, while scoring 5.71 in government functioning. On political participation and political Culture, the country had 6.11 and 6.25 respectively.

However, Ghana which scored -54 out of the 167 countries surveyed, performed much better than most African and European countries.