Former President, Jerry John Rawlings passed on today, Thursday, November 12, 2020.
He died at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital after battling with ill-health.
He was born June 22, 1947.
Mr. Rawlings was a former military leader and subsequent politician who ruled Ghana from 1981 to 2001 and also a brief period in 1979.
He led a military junta and subsequently served two terms as a democratically elected President of Ghana.
1979 coup
Flight Lieutenant Jerry John Rawlings led several members of the air force (junior officers and corporals) to attempt an overthrow of the government on June 4, 1979. They were unsuccessful.
During his trial, Rawlings justified his action by claiming that official corruption had eroded public confidence in the government and had tarnished the image of the armed forces.
Rawlings also charged that Syrian and Lebanese businessmen living in Ghana had gained control of the country’s economy at the expense of the African majority hence his action.
What did he do in 1981?
Jerry John Rawlings who was of the opinion that the Limann regime was unable to resolve Ghana’s neocolonial economic dependency, led a second coup against Limann and indicted the entire political class on 31 December 1981.
Following the formation of the Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC), which ruled Ghana following the military coup d’état on 31 December 1981, there was pressure from the international community to restore democracy.
Formation of NDC
Mr. Rawlings formed the National Democratic Congress (NDC) as the ruling party ahead of the 1992 elections. He won that election.
Elected first president of the fourth republic
He was elected on the ticket of NDC as the first elected president of Ghana’s fourth republic with Kow Nkensen Arkaah as his Vice President.
He (Mr. Rawlings) was re-elected president in 1996 with John Evans Atta-Mills as his Vice President.
His second term ended in 2001.
Hands over power peacefully to Kufuor government
He peacefully handed over to the New Patriotic Party’s John Agyekum Kufuor, ensuring the continuation of Ghana’s new, democratic story which has endured to this day.
He, however, became an ardent critic of the Kufour administration accusing the government of engaging in corrupt deals.
His relationship with the late President Mills became soar after the Mills-led administration failed to prosecute persons he (Mr. Rawlings) believed to have been corrupt.
Characteristic of him, Mr. Rawlings also criticized Mr. Mahama’s administration and subsequently the Akufo-Addo government.
