President John Dramani Mahama has said that Ghana's democracy can break down if it fails to deliver development in areas such as roads, schools, hospitals and jobs.
In his view, polls continue to show that a majority of Ghanaian youth would want military dictatorship if democracy fails to deliver on their hopes.
Speaking to the 2025 Democracy Dialogue in Accra on Wednesday, September 17, 2025, President Mahama described the trend as alarming.
"All of the Afrobarometer surveys and other surveys… in most of those surveys, they asked, would you prefer democratic government or would you prefer a coup d'état? And it was frightening to see how many of our young people said that they would like to live under a military government," he added.
Mr Mahama insisted that democracy cannot be sustained by freedoms and rights if it does not translate into concrete improvements in the lives of people.
"We need to bring development because without development, democracy, without roads, democracy without schools, hospitals, and jobs, there will always be a problem," he further insisted.
He also challenged Ghana's system of governance to be reset to regain the trust and credibility.
"We need a reset of our economy. We need a reset of our democracy. We need a reset of our governance. We must make our governance accountable. And that is why I am saying that anyone who wants to serve in public office must be ready to account before the people," he stated.
President Mahama pointed out that corruption, inequality and elite capture continued to undermine democracy and should be addressed urgently not to bring about more disillusionment, especially among the young people.
He further added that new media are revolutionizing the way the citizens engage with governance and would help shape the future of democracy.
"We do not have the radios and TVs as our main source of information anymore. Anyone can simply hold a camera in front of his face and can comment on anything. And thus again, how do we find space for the new media in democratic consolidation? Maybe that could be the topic of the next Democracy Dialogue," he added.
The 2025 Democracy Dialogue was held under the title, Why Democracies Die. It was attended by African leaders, including former Nigerian Presidents Goodluck Jonathan and Olusegun Obasanjo, and Nigerian politician Peter Obi.
