Despite the enthusiasm for politics and strong preference for the essence of democracy, most Ghanaians appear to be poorly informed about political issues. Sixty-four per cent said they found matters of politics and government too complicated to understand. This was contained in the findings of a research, Ghana Afrobarometre Round Three Survey conducted by the Ghana Centre for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana) from March 10 to 23, 2005. The research was the third in the series. The first was in 1999, followed by another in 2002. It involved a nationality representative sample of 1,199 in Ghanaians, aged 18 years and above with face-to face interview conducted by 53 field assistants in five local languages. The prevailing conditions at the time of the research included vetting of ministerial nominees with “harrowing revelations” of alleged wrong doings and corruption among some of the nominees, announcement of increases in the prices of fuel and the opposition preparing to embark on “Wahala’ demonstration. Briefing the press and representatives of political parties about the findings of the research in Accra on Wednesday, the executive director of CDD-Ghana, Prof. E. Gyimah-Boadi, said the findings also indicated a gap in civil education, and asked whether media was confusing rather than educating.” He said that Ghanaians relied more on the electronic media than the print media for their political information and opinion because 67 per cent of respondents indicated that they listened to radio news on a daily basis, which represented a seven per cent point rise over the 2002 figure of 60 per cent, and added that those who admitted to never reading newspapers rose from 57 per cent in 1999 to 60 in 2002 and then to 63 per cent in 2005.

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Source: Daily Graphic