Why does Ghana’s democracy hold steady in a turbulent democratic landscape?
Ghana’s democracy is not perfect, but it continues to show a kind of resilience that stands out in a sub-region wrestling with coups and democratic backsliding. In December 2024, despite economic hardship and citizen frustration, Ghanaians still turned up at the polls, with about 61% of registered voters casting ballots (albeit down from nearly 79% in 2020). […]
Democracy for all or a few?
On Monday, July 7, 2025, the Ghana Center for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana) launched the Democracy Capture Index report, a project I have been involved in. The findings make one wonder whose interests democracies on the continent serve. Is it democracy for all or democracy for the few? Even more concerning are the identified actors actively […]
DEMCAP Report 2025: The Many Faces of Democracy Capture in Africa
Democracy capture refers to the intentional attempts by various actors, driven either by personal or partisan motive, to get institutions/agencies to do their bidding. This inaugural Democracy Capture (DemCap) report presents a comprehensive analysis of how democratic institutions/agencies are systematically being undermined. The report draws on data from 370 institutions across 10 African countries—Benin, Botswana, […]
DEMCAP Report 2025: Key Insights at a Glance
[embeddoc url=”https://cddgh.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/DemCap-2025-Report-Summary_Updated-Final_Digital-Version.pdf” download=”all”]
Ghanaian Views on Authoritarian Alternatives to Democracy
Last Wednesday (April 23), the Center for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana) held a regional dissemination event to share with Ghanaians, results from the 2024 Afrobarometer survey. One of the findings that has gained media attention is how Ghanaians responded to this question – Which of the following statements is closest to your view? (Choose Statement 1 […]
Election 2024 – Lessons from the campaign season
The campaign season is over. The fate of all candidates – presidential and parliamentary – now rests with 18 million Ghanaian voters. When all is said and done, all Ghanaians want is a free, fair, and peaceful election. As we head to the polls energized and excited, let our political temperaments be guided by this […]
Dear Youth – Getting the Democracy You Once Hoped For
Today is International Youth Day. On this day, the world focuses attention on its youth – their hopes, and aspirations but also the many political, social, and economic challenges they face. It is a day where we renew our commitments and assure them of a brighter future. But it is also a day where the […]
Election 2024: Who Will Make A Pledge To Ghana’s Democracy?
Ghana is seven months away from another crucial election. As usual, candidates are sharing their vision and ideas with voters. They are making promises and taking jabs at each other. All this makes for a bustling election season. As has been the case, the election is really a contest between the National Democratic Congress (NDC) […]
Ghana’s Democracy – Worrying Signals from the 2023 Democracy Index
A full examination of the Economic Intelligent Unit’s world democracy index, paying particular attention to the questions used to calculate the overall score and the individual categories, shows that Ghana has addressed the electoral part of democracy – regular elections, political parties, and a constitutional right to vote. The challenge is deepening democracy’s political culture, […]
Democracy Watch Vol. 7 No. 1: The enigmatic 2006 ministerial reshuffle
There is, of course, no hard and fast rule as to when it might be best to reshuffle the President’s ministerial team. As with the decision to appoint or sack a particular minister, the timing and scale of such reshuffles is entirely the prerogative of the President, at whose sole pleasure all ministers serve. Still, […]
