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Ghana Revolutionary Organs
To lay the foundation for true democracy in Ghana, the PNDC
created a controversial countrywide network of People's Defence
Committees (PDCs) and Workers' Defence Committees (WDCs),
reorganized and renamed, in late 1984 as Committees for the Defence
of the Revolution (CDRs). Established in villages, urban
communities, and workplaces, the CDRs were intended to be organs of
popular power and political initiative. Forces' Defence Committees
were established in the armed forces and the police service.
The most important aspect of the reorganization of the PDCs and
the WDCs from the standpoint of the political and socioeconomic
functions of the CDRs was the opening up of membership to all
Ghanaians. This decision reversed the earlier exclusion from
PDC/WDC membership of elite groups, such as chiefs and so-called
exploiting classes. The change returned the revolution to its
original objective of involving all Ghanaians in decision making
and opened up possibilities for genuine national reconciliation.
According to official directives, the principal functions of the
CDRs were to ensure democratic participation in decision making in
all communities and workplaces; to guard against corruption, abuse
of power, sabotage, and social injustice; and to promote sustained
national productivity by focusing efforts on the productive sectors
of the economy.
The other mass organizations of the revolution were the
National Mobilisation Program, the 31st December Women's Movement,
the Civil Defence Organisation (the militia), the National Youth
Organising Commission, and the June Four Movement. The National
Mobilisation Program started as an emergency program to receive and
resettle Ghanaian returnees from Nigeria in 1983. It soon developed
into a cooperative movement engaged in a variety of economic and
community development projects throughout Ghana. The 31st December
Women's Movement aimed to bring about the political, social, and
economic emancipation of Ghanaian women, especially rural women.
The Civil Defence Organisation, popularly known as the militia,
was set up as a paramilitary institution to assist other state
organizations in national emergencies such as invasions, bush
fires, and floods. Members received special training in combat
readiness to defend the nation against internal and external
aggression and economic sabotage. The militia, in addition to
combating crime in local communities, engaged in voluntary social
and economic activities to help promote community development. In
this effort, it was often assisted by the National Youth Organising
Commission, created in 1982 as part of the PNDC's efforts to
establish a youth movement to carry out the objectives of the 31st
December 1981 Revolution.
The June Four Movement was a militant mass revolutionary
movement dedicated to keeping alive the ideals of the June 4, 1979,
uprising that Rawlings had led. It sought to arouse the population
at large to assist in establishing so-called people's power within
the avowed objectives of the revolutionary process. On a practical
level, it worked with the militia and the National Youth Organising
Commission in various community development projects.
Participatory opportunities of the ordinary Ghanaian citizen
were significantly expanded through membership in revolutionary
organs. Before the establishment of the district assemblies in
1989, the PNDC government was thus able to reach the rural
population and to broaden its base of support by direct
consultation. This was achieved through chiefs, the CDRs, and other
national bodies such as the Democratic Youth League of Ghana, which
in 1988 claimed a nationwide membership of more than 100,000. Other
such groups included farmers' organizations, market women's
associations, trade union groups, students' organizations, and
religious and other bodies. The PNDC's political opposition,
however, hotly contested the democratic nature of such organs and
saw them as nothing but state-sponsored vigilantes engaged in
intimidation and human rights abuses.
Data as of November 1994
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