The Governance and Trust Barometer

• Citizen-Centered Assessment
• Perception-based governance diagnostic grounded in lived citizen experience.
• Governance as experienced reality, not just institutional design.
• GTB adopts a multidimensional framework that integrates diverse governance attributes into a single, interpretable composite index.

Methodology

• Structured questionnaire administered to a nationally representative sample.
• Organised into 8 domains:
  • Trust in Key Public Institutions
  • Perceptions of Corruption
  • Accountability and Rule of Law
  • Government Communication
  • Citizen Voice and Representation
  • Electoral Confidence
  • Political Security
  • Civic Participation

Index Construction

• Each construct was computed as the arithmetic mean of its standardized component variables.
• This approach ensures:
  • Transparency
  • Ease of interpretation
  • Robustness to missing values (using available-case averaging)

Composite Barometer Index

• The overall GTB score was calculated as the unweighted average of the eight sub-indices:

[
GTB = \frac{1}{8} (ITI + CPI + ARLI + GCI + CVRI + ECI + PSI + CPI2)
]

Interpretation Framework

Findings

Governance and Trust Barometer (GTB)

Ghana is institutionally stable but lacks strong public confidence in governance outcomes.

Governance and Trust Barometer (GTB)

Key concerns:

• Corruption Perception
• Civic Participation
• Political Security

Institutional Trust Index (ITI)

Corruption Perception (CPI)

Accountability and Rule of Law (ARLI)

Governance Communication (GCI)

Citizen Voice & Representation (CVRI)

Electoral Confidence (ECI)

Political Security (PSI)

Civic Participation (CPI2)

Summary of Findings

Key Insights

The Governance Paradox

• Strong institutions BUT weak perceived integrity.
• Gap between form and function.
• Institutions exist, but enforcement and fairness are questioned.

Communication Vs Voice

• Government Communication: 44.2
• Citizen Voice: 50.8
• Citizens can express views, but do not feel heard.
• This suggests a weak responsiveness and feedback loops.

Electoral Strength vs Political Caution

• Strong elections BUT weak political security.
• Cautious engagement beyond voting.
• Citizens trust elections but are hesitant to engage politically due to perceived risks.

Conclusion

• The GTB suggests Ghana is structurally stable, but perceptually fragile.
• Trust gap is the core challenge.
• Ghana has strong democratic foundations, but must translate them into real governance outcomes to rebuild trust.