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0 A Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of Statistical, Social and Economic Research (ISSER), University of Ghana, Dr Kofi Takyi-Asante, has said public debate on LGBTQ+ issues does not reflect the main concerns consistently expressed by Ghanaian voters.
Speaking at a forum organised by the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences in Accra last Tuesday on the topic , “The Exclusive Democratic Dividend: Citizen-State Relations and the Crisis of Political Legitimacy in Ghana,” he said available survey data showed that employment, education, health care and other socio-economic issues remained the priorities of citizens across election cycles.
Drawing on findings from Afrobarometer surveys and the National Commission for Civic Education’s (NCCE) Matters of Concern to the Ghanaian Voter studies, Dr Takyi-Asante said the issues that repeatedly ranked highest among voters were “bread-and-butter” concerns rather than the criminalisation of same-sex sexuality.
He argued that legislative attention should focus on matters that directly affect citizens’ welfare, adding that the prominence of LGBTQ+ issues in public discourse did not correspond with the concerns most frequently expressed by voters in national surveys.
Accurate information
Dr Takyi-Asante also questioned the basis of some arguments advanced in support of anti-LGBTQ+ legislation, saying public officials and policymakers should be guided by accurate information and by the concerns that citizens consistently identify as most important.
Addressing participants at the event, he said data from successive NCCE studies showed that issues such as employment, education, health care and agriculture had remained among the top concerns of voters over several election cycles.
According to him, the consistency of those findings suggested that citizens expected governments to focus on improving living standards and expanding economic opportunities.
He further argued that public policy discussions should be informed by evidence of citizens’ priorities. In that regard, he cited the long-delayed Spousal Property Rights Bill as an example of a matter that had remained unresolved despite its potential implications for families and property rights.
Challenges
Beyond the LGBTQ+ debate, Dr Takyi-Asante said the country was confronting a growing challenge of political legitimacy arising from the gap between the country’s democratic achievements and its socio-economic outcomes.
While public support for democracy remained high, he said satisfaction with government performance and service delivery had fluctuated significantly over the years.
He explained that survey findings showed strong support for democratic governance and elections as the preferred means of choosing leaders. At the same time, he noted that citizens’ assessments of government performance often declined between election cycles, particularly during periods of economic difficulty.
According to him, poverty, inequality and recurring economic crises had contributed to public dissatisfaction and weakened confidence in the social contract between citizens and the state.
He said those conditions had created a perception among some citizens that governments were not adequately responding to their needs.
Dr Takyi-Asante attributed part of the challenge to intense political competition within an economy that remains heavily dependent on primary commodity exports.
He argued that the structure of the economy encouraged short-term political calculations and patronage-based politics, making it difficult for governments to address long-term development challenges.
He further contended that Ghana’s governance and development difficulties could not be understood solely through domestic political dynamics.
Rather, he said, the country’s position within the global economic system continued to influence policy choices and development outcomes.
For that reason, Dr Takyi-Asante called for what he described as deep democratisation that extends beyond periodic elections.
Such an approach, he said, should place greater emphasis on citizen participation, accountability, economic transformation and policies that respond to the material concerns of the population.
