Wading Through The Waters: The Governance Challenge to Ghana’s Democracy.

Abstract

This paper examines the implications of bad governance to Ghana’s democracy. While it acknowledges the fact that Ghana’s democracy has shown some level of resilience in the face of some collateral difficulties since 1993 when the country returned to democracy which has been sustained so far, it contends that bad governance, which is manifested mostly in widespread corruption in public institutions and the political leadership challenges exhibited by all political leaders since the inception of the country’s fourth republic, pose a significant threat to the country’s democracy if not effectively addressed. It argues that in the face of difficult national issues creating resentment and despair such as erratic electricity power supply, lack of potable water for many communities, high unemployment rates, poor but expensive health delivery system, unaffordable but low quality educational facilities at all levels of education, high maternal death rates, poor infrastructure, weak industrial sector, higher interest rates and unsustainable agricultural sector performance, among others, the continued existence and manifestation of these evils to national development present precarious and very dire implications for the country’s democracy. This is especially against the backdrop of the fact that civil society is getting gradually more conscious of the responsibilities of their leaders towards the discharge of the social contract when elected into office.

KEY WORDS: Democracy, Corruption, governance, political leadership, Ghana, Africa