A universally recognised part of the democratic process, Pressure groups are by definition the collection of people with a common interest who influence socio-political structures and strengthen the democratic process by giving a voice to a variety of the citizenry.
These they achieve through advocacy, public awareness programs, policy research, lobbying of parliament, public opinion polls and organised protests.
Focusing on Ghana, we dont seem to have these serious movers and shakers in place in the system save for the odd union here and there who come out with angry faces and loud voices amidst jama chanting and kpanlogo dances with associated unrest vying for change. The whole idea of kicking up a stink against policies and organisations in a bid for positive change or prodding policies in the right direction away from disaster is practically non-existent in our society.

Trade unions are too busy asking for pay rises for their members to focus on say the taxation levels and how it affects the population. They never come out againt government aquisitions, stake holds and government trade agreements with foreign investors and ask for transparency and citizenry input and acceptance of the nature of the deals before it goes ahead. You wont find them in the corridors of the house of parliament presenting proposals or getting ministers to read their finding on this and that.

The media associations are too busy chasing politicians to find out who just had a gold teeth fitted recently and barely have time to advocate for say Decentralisation or raise awareness through the electronic and print medium about certain salient national policies which will go a long way to educate and enlighten people about socio-political policies and associated issues so that people can be better informed to make decisions and make their voices heard. And neither would you find them submitting a white paper on the collective opinion on a policy they have gathered from across the country to parliament regading a particular national sentiment which may per-adventure help parliament to know how the electorate really feels about that policy and help shed some insight into the repercussions if it goes against the will of the people.

The bar associations are too scared to challenge the status quo and stand up on behalf of citizens and lobby parliament in a bid for transparency in the public accounts system and the passage of the right to information act. They dont rise up against Executive interferance in legal issues ad put their foot down on any constitutional matters that have been twisted. And you will never find them give a counter argument on legislations on behalf of the peple. You never hear them come out as a force to educate the masses about what our rights are in the light of any issues and they never hold our hands and point out our obligation either. In short they dont present themselves for us as mouth pieces regarding the law.

The farmers associations are always making appeals but do not realise that they have a right to call on their members to march with cutlasses and hoes, fishing rods and cattle whips in hand to sway policy and raise awareness that they deserve better incentives and conditions of work under the agro charter so they can feed the nation. Something that is of the utmost importance because Agriculture is our main stay.They sit on their farms meekly whiles the very people they strive to feed call the shots were their implements, food rates and export capacity are concerned.

The medical associations are not pulling together with other allied entities to ensure that health care in terms of neccessary equipment, proximity issues and the ratio of available hospitals versus number of people as an example, are basic human rights of every citizen and that it is sacrilegious that the majority of the population have not got access to those. What you get is Korle-bu crying for help, people dying of curable diseases, doctors refusing to practise in the interior and the whole national health service a sham. If these groups came out more often in the public domain carrying the sentiments of the masses and their own expert observations and findings, chances are there will be room for change.

Teachers associations are always bemoaning their wages but they haven't really been vocal in the structure of the education system, school bursaries, government allocations to school children nor provided a united front for Parent-Teacher Associations to enable change to policies. Considering they are at the fore-front of the education system, one would have expected to feel their presence on matters regarding the preparatory to the tertiary levels of education. Unfortunately sit-down strikes are their forte and when they come out like that it often has nothing to do with education but money in the pocket.

The list is endless and i could go on and on but i gather that by now you are getting the flow of my thought. Suffice it to say that with a predominatly Centralised system of governance, haven't we let things get carried away in the system way too much simply because of our refusal to give input and take our rightful places in being seen as part of the mechanism of the democratic process?
Moreover, with pressure groups being devoid of Partisan issues with a common goal at lending a voice to citizens across the board, shouldn't we be using this strategy instead to steer opinions and sentiments towards our democratic practices instead of the negative baying hounds of party politics?
Finally, haven't we caused some of the problems by refusing to get involved and letting a few people steer the ship when instead we could have helped steer affairs in the right direction?
I often find it amusing when people refer to the executive as the government, because truth be said they are not the only people who constitute the 'aban' infact we all do.