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Ghana Interest Groups and National Politics
Among the politically active and influential organizations and
interest groups are the Trade Union Congress (TUC), the Ghana Bar
Association (GBA), the Christian Council of Ghana (CCG), the
Catholic Bishops Conference (CBC), the Ghana Journalists
Association, the National Union of Ghanaian Students (NUGS), the
regional houses of chiefs, and the National House of Chiefs.
Because political parties in Ghana have been weak and the national
political system itself has been unstable, the enduring nature of
some of these firmly established interest groups has often
substituted for political stability. As a result of their
stabilizing and quasi-political institutional role, interest groups
such as the CBC, the CCG, and the GBA have exerted enormous
influence on national policy. The relationship between incumbent
governments and these powerful interest groups has never been easy,
however; the government has invariably tried to co-opt or to
control, if not to intimidate, the leadership of these urban-based
organizations.
Of all politically active organizations, the TUC has always had
the largest following, with a total membership in the early 1990s
of more than 500,000. This figure includes workers and salaried
employees in the public and the private sectors who are members of
the seventeen unions that are affiliated with the TUC. Since
independence, successive governments have made repeated attempts to
control it. Rawlings enjoyed the support of the TUC during the
first two years of PNDC rule, but the stringent austerity measures
introduced in the ERP in 1983 led to discontent among union members
adversely affected by devaluation, wage restraints, and lay-offs.
By 1985 the original support enjoyed by the PNDC in labor circles
had all but disappeared. The PNDC worked hard to regain union
support, however, and the National Democratic Congress government
of the Fourth Republic has continued to woo the unions through
tripartite consultations involving itself, the TUC, and employers.
From the inception to the end of PNDC rule in 1992, the CCG,
the CBCA, the GBA, NUGS, and the National House of Chiefs played
prominent roles in the transition to democracy. These organizations
took the provisional nature of the PNDC regime quite literally,
calling for a quick return to democratic national government.
Although NUGS and the GBA consistently demanded a return to
multiparty democracy, the CCG, the CBC, and the national and
regional houses of chiefs favored a nonpartisan national
government. While the NUGS and GBA leadership used methods that
frequently provoked confrontation with the PNDC, the CBC and the
national and regional houses of chiefs preferred a more
conciliatory method of political change, emphasizing national
unity.
The CCG, the CBC, and the national and regional houses of
chiefs function openly as independent national lobbies to promote
common rather than special interests. They insist on negotiation
and mediation in the management of national disputes, and they
advocate policy alternatives that stress the long-term needs of
society. In the past, they have taken bold initiatives to attain
the abrogation of state measures and legislation that violate human
rights or that threaten law and order. All three bodies share a
commitment to democracy, the rule of law, and the creation of
political institutions that reflect Ghanaian cultural traditions.
The GBA, like the other professional associations in Ghana, is
concerned, among other things, with maintaining the dignity of the
legal profession through a code of professional ethics and with
promoting further learning and research in the profession. The main
objectives of the GBA according to its constitution include the
defense of freedom and justice, the maintenance of judicial
independence, and the protection of human rights and fundamental
freedoms as defined under the United Nations Universal Declaration
of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. These objectives, by
definition, have inevitably pitted the GBA against both military
regimes and one-party governments, which on their part have
considered the GBA at best a necessary evil. NUGS and its national
executive, representing the more than 8,000 students of Ghana's
three universities in Accra-Legon, Kumasi, and Cape Coast are among
the most vocal and articulate pressure groups in Ghana. By reason
of their higher education, in a largely illiterate society,
students have often been in a position to agitate for far-reaching
political, economic, and social change. Indeed, students have been
in the forefront of political activism in Ghana since independence.
NUGS was most vocal in its support of Rawlings and the PNDC in
1982, but this changed as the PNDC adopted policies that NUGS
considered to be against the welfare of students in particular and
of Ghanaians in general.
The CCG, another vocal and influential interest group, was
founded in 1929. The CCG's principal function is advisory; it acts
through consultation among its member churches. The CCG operates
through several committees, including education, social action
(national affairs), and literacy campaigns. The CCG is a member of
the World Council of Churches and other ecumenical bodies, and it
is a strong advocate of human rights.
The CBC, the highest local unifying authority of the Roman
Catholic Church in Ghana, dates to 1950, although the church itself
has been in Ghana since the fifteenth century. The CBC has
established a Joint Social Action Committee for cooperation between
it and the CCG.
The National House of Chiefs and the ten regional houses of
chiefs represent more than 32,000 recognized traditional rulers who
exercise considerable influence throughout Ghana, especially in the
countryside. As trustees of communal lands and natural resources,
chiefs are often the pivot around which local socio-economic
development revolves. The 1992 constitution, like all previous
constitutions, guarantees the institution of chieftaincy together
with its traditional councils as established by customary law and
usage. To preserve their role as symbols of national unity,
however, chiefs are forbidden from active participation in party
politics.
Data as of November 1994
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