About 43% of Ghanaians believe military takeovers are sometimes justified, with the northern regions recording the highest levels of support, according to a recent report by the University of Ghana’s Political Science Department.

The report, titled Undertones and Public Perceptions of Military Rule and Democracy in Ghana, surveyed 6,719 respondents across all 16 regions. It found that the Savannah, Upper West, Upper East, Northern, and North East regions recorded the highest percentages of respondents who agreed that military rule is sometimes justified.

However, the Eastern Region also stood out, with 77% of respondents indicating that military rule is sometimes justified.

The report further revealed that 34% of respondents would support military rule if democracy fails to improve economic conditions, while 28% said they would support it if democracy fails to tackle corruption.

Speaking after the presentation of the report on Wednesday, June 9, the Head of the Political Science Department at the University of Ghana, Prof. Isaac Owusu Mensah, noted that the findings show Ghanaians remain committed to democracy despite concerns about corruption.

“The position of the respondents is that even though democracy has a lot of shortcomings, they have a lot of issues and problems, but they still prefer democratic governments to military regimes because the military regimes curtail their fundamental human rights and also their ability to change and hold governments accountable at the end of the day.

“They are not happy with democracy at the end of the day because they think that corruption and also democracy are an inability to deliver economic outcomes as we expect. That’s why they have problems with democracy,” he said.

The report also recommended improving transparency, strengthening accountability, and ensuring government responsiveness to the critical needs of citizens.