Seven out of 10 Ghanaians have said government is steering the country in the wrong direction, according to a survey conducted by the Ghana Centre for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana).

A pre-election survey conducted by the think tank identified that Ghanaians wanted political campaigns ahead of the December general elections to focus on how to resolve issues of unemployment.

A senior research fellow at the CDD-Ghana, Daniel Armah Attoh, addressing journalists in Accra, said: “Ghanaians place unemployment, electricity, and education on the top policy priority list they want the 2016 polls to address, and yet a clear majority assess government’s performance in addressing their policy priorities negatively.

“Indeed, a narrow majority seems to believe that another political party can do a better job. A solid majority of Ghanaians claim the following factors will have a great deal or some influence on the choices of candidates and parties in the 2016 polls – bad roads, government corruption, power outages, high prices of foodstuffs, access to medical care, use of abusive language, and posturing of politicians.

“However, Ghanaians say the following factors will have no influence on their vote choices, that is, whether a candidate offers them a gift or not, whether the candidate shares in their religious faith, or the candidate comes from their home region.

“The mood of the electorate going into the 2016 polls is broadly negative. Seven in 10 Ghanaians believe that the country is going in the wrong direction and nearly half blame this completely on mostly the government. Nonetheless, Ghanaians are split in their evaluations of the job performance of the president and Members of Parliament. Nearly half approve the overall job performance of the president and their respective MPs but the rest disapprove.”