Miles away in Accra, Ghana, a military icon turned political liberator Jerry Rawlings has rested. According to Reuters, former West African leader who transitioned from the military to the country’s top seat succumbed to Covid-19 at Korle Bu Teaching Hospital (KBTH) in Accra, Ghana at the age of 73. He had spent more than one week in the hospital after being admitted.
Encyclopedia. com reveals that Jerry Rawlings was born to a mixed-race couple on June 22, 1947. His mother, Victoria Agbotui, was a Ghanaian woman drawn from the Ewe ethnic group while his father was Scottish. Jerry grew up and married his wife Nana Konado Agyeman with whom they have two daughters.
He attended Achimota School before moving to Ghana Military Academy where he graduated and served the military as a pilot in 1969 to 1978. He would then serve as a flight lieutenant in the period between 1978 and 1979, according to the Encyclopedia.
That he was born to a mixed-race couple gave him a unique skin tone and a conspicuous look. His tall, built body complementing his deep commanding voice may have prepared him for the battle ahead. The battle that later handed him the controversial yet enigmatic tag.
Rawlings had more aspirations past just flying the military choppers and securing the borders of Ghana. He alongside other young like-minded Ghanaians in and out of the force grew tired of the leadership of General Frederick Akuffo. The flight lieutenant was charged at some point for rubbishing shoulders and criticising the regime.
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He then formed the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council which successfully ousted the leadership of Mr Akuffo in May 1979. After assuming power, Rawlings prosecuted three officers from the past government over corruption. He kept his promise by facilitating the transition to the civilian rule in an election which was won by Dr Hilla Limann in September 1979.
Back to military
Rawlings went back to his military duties but his stay there would be short-lived. Friction between Limann’s administration and Rawlings erupted, resulting in the latter’s resignation from the military. He blamed Dr Limann’s leadership for abetting corruption and running down the economy.
On December 31, 1981, Rawlings marshalled troops who staged another coup as he launched a second successful bid to oust the government. This time, his approach was brutal and strategic. He suspended the law and made Ghana a one-party state under the Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC).
He rose to power, establishing a hybrid system of governance that would appeal to both the civilian and the military. A system which critics flagged off as populist but for those who understood Rawlings’ brand of politics, his approach was a neutral one.
As encyclopedia states, author Jon Kraus penned about Rawlings’ political moves in his article Current History as follows: “Rawlings proclaimed that Ghanaians must carry out a revolution of just rule for the common man and self-reliant development… there was broad popular support for Jerry Rawlings himself, a dynamic, emotional man in his early thirties who was widely regarded as sincere and honest.”
Multiparty democracy
His administration was accused of human rights abuses and Amnesty International often trained its guns on him. But Rawlings received credit for driving Ghana out of the red line of inflation and he would later on milk donations from the West after pledging allegiance to them during the cold war era.
Credited to his name was the establishment of the district assembly elections which regions used as conduits to solve problems.
In 1991, on the road to multi-partyism in the West African nation, Rawlings would then talk vastly about his philosophy in Africa Report saying that his blueprint was to nail a home-grown democratic system in Ghana.
He then formed National Commission for Democracy (NCD) to steer the country towards multi-party politics as election beckoned in 1992. Rawlings won the 1992 poll with 58 per cent under National Defence Council even as his rivals alleged massive irregularities. He retired in 2001 handing power to John Kufuor.
Rawlings’ death comes over one month after his mother died at the age of 101 in September this year.
