Ghanaians believe ‘footsoldiers’ threat to peace – Survey

Majority of Ghanaians believe that political party footsoldier activities could threaten the peace of the country, according the Afrobarometre survey results released by the Ghana Centre for Democratic Development (CDD) in Accra on Tuesday.

“Absolute majority (81%) of Ghanaians “strongly agrees or agrees” that some of the foot soldier activities could threaten the peace if left unchecked”

The survey was conducted in countries like Burundi, Cameroon, Mauritius, Niger, Togo, and Sierra Leone, to measure popular perspectives on the social, political, and economic environments in each country where it is implemented and across Africa.

According to the study, Ghanaians believed footsoldier exertions on behalf of for their respective parties are motivated by expectations of material rewards

“A majority of Ghanaians (60%) think political party footsoldiers are motivated by expectations of future rewards after the party wins power”

It stated a (31%) of people held the opinion that footsoldiers were motivated by their belief in the political party’s programmes, while an absolute majority, representing (88%) further agreed footsoldier activities that border on criminality must be prosecuted by the police.

“An absolute majority (81%) however agrees that political interference hinders the arrest and prosecution of footsoldiers by the police.”

Professor Gyima Boadi, Executive Director, CDD-Ghana, stated that the survey was also to give the public a voice in policy making processes by providing high-quality public opinion data to policy-makers, policy advocates and civil society organizations, academics, media, donors and investors, and ordinary Africans.

He said the study should not be seen to have an influence on the minds of people towards the upcoming elections since it was purely coincidental.

Source: GNA