The Centre for Democratic Development-Ghana (CDD-Ghana) has clarified that its latest report did not state emphatically that Ghanaians prefer military rule to civilian.
According to the independent, non-governmental and non-profit research and advocacy institute, the report revealed that a rising number of Ghanaians will support a military intervention in politics if democratic leaders misgovern.
Speaking on Frontline on Rainbow Radio 87.5FM, a senior research analyst, Madam Mavis Zupork Dome at CDD-Ghana, explained that 51% of citizens believe that if things don’t go well, Ghanaians will prefer the Ghana Armed Forces to assume control in managing the affairs of the country.
She said the statement said army officers can take over if politicians abuse power.
The findings were presented at a regional dissemination event held in Kumasi, organised by CDD-Ghana in collaboration with the Centre for Community Livelihood Development.
But several media reports have presented the stories in a manner that paints a picture that Ghanaians prefer military rule to civilian rule.
Madam, in her remarks, emphasised that fifty-two per cent of respondents aged between 18 and 25 endorse a military takeover should politicians abuse their power, rising to 56% among those aged between 26 and 35.
She told host Kwabena Agyapong that standardised questions are used to allow for cross-country comparisons, and that the surveys were also translated into languages so that respondents could respond in their preferred language, but that the word democracy was not translated.
According to her, ‘’Ghanaians did not state categorically that they preferred military rule to democracy, but their response was a conditional one, and they even stressed that they would want the military to hand over power back to civilian rule if things stabilise (over 70 per cent of respondents) immediately or as soon as possible. So it is not about them wanting the military to rule us, but their response was that if politicians abuse power to their own benefit, they would want the military to intervene”.
‘’I should also add that there is grand support for democracy as a preferred form of rule. Seven out of ten (73 per cent) say they prefer democracy, and almost 9 in 10 say they reject one-man rule and one-party rule, and 62 per cent say they reject military rule, and 8 in 10 prefer elections as their form of selecting their leaders who will govern them. They want the multi-party competitions that we have and want a lot of parties to contest in the elections,’’ she added.
By: Rainbowradioonline.com/Ghana
