An African Icon And Former President Of Ghana, Rawlings Has Passed On

The former leader of Ghana Jerry John Rawlings has passed on at the emergency clinic on Thursday 12 November, 2020. As Ghana’s longest-serving Head of State, the 73-year-old died in the afternoon on Thursday after he contracted Covid-19 and was raced to the emergency unit at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital in Accra-Ghana.

Mr Rawlings was most recently seen out in the public on October 19, during the last memorial service rituals of his late mother, Victoria Agbotui. The former military officer who was continually radiating with smiles, governed the country from 1981 to 2001 and furthermore for a concise period in 1979.

He drove a military junta until 1992, and later served two terms as the equitably chosen President of Ghana. Rawlings at first came to power in Ghana as a flight lieutenant of the Ghana Air Force following a rebellion in 1979. Preceding that, he drove an ineffective overthrow endeavor against the ruling military government on 15 May 1979, only five weeks before booked democratic elections were due to occur.

After initially handing over to a non military personnel government, he assumed back responsibility for the country on December 31, 1981, as the Chairman of the Provisional National Defense Council (PNDC). In 1992, Rawlings left the military, established the National Democratic Congress (NDC), and turned into the main President of the Fourth Republic.

He was reappointed in 1996 for four additional years. After two terms in office, the limit as indicated by the Ghanaian Constitution, Mr Rawlings supported his Vice President, John Atta Mills as an official candidate in 2000.

The former military man, military pilot and lawmaker was born in June 1947 in Accra, Ghana, to Victoria Agbotui, an Ewe from Dzelukope, Keta and James Ramsey John, a scientist from Castle Douglas in Kirkcudbrightshire, Scotland.

James Ramsey John was married in England to another person and his relatives now live in Newcastle and London. Rawlings went to Achimota School and a military foundation at Teshie.

The patriotic and charismatic leader was married to Nana Konadu Agyeman, who he met while at Achimota College. They have three daughters: Zanetor Rawlings, Yaa Asantewaa Rawlings, Amina Rawlings; and a son, Kimathi Rawlings.

After he completed his auxiliary education at Achimota College in 1967, Rawlings joined the Ghana Air Force; on his application, the military switched his last name John and his center name Rawlings. In March 1968, he was posted to Takoradi, in Ghana’s Western Region, to proceed with his studies.

He graduated in January 1969, and was charged as a Pilot Officer, winning the desired “Speed Bird Trophy” as the best cadet in flying the Su-7 ground attack supersonic fly airplane as he was talented in aerobatics. He acquired the position of Flight Lieutenant and in April 1978.

During his administration with the Ghana Air Force, Rawlings saw a weakening in control and resolve because of corruption in the Supreme Military Council (SMC). As promotion carried him into contact with the special classes and their social qualities, his perspective on the treacheries in the public eye solidified.

He was in this way respected with some anxiety by the SMC. After the 1979 upset, he included himself with the student community of the University of Ghana, where he built up a more radical philosophy through perusing and conversation of social and political thoughts.

Rawlings set up the Economic Recovery Program (ERP) proposed by the World Bank and the IMF in 1982 because of the helpless condition of the economy following year and a half of endeavoring to administer it through regulatory controls and mass activation.

The approaches executed caused a sensational currency devaluation, the evacuation of value controls and social-administration endowments that supported urban workers, and privatization of some state-owned enterprises, and restraints on government spending. Financing was given by reciprocal contributors, coming to $800 million of every 1987 and 1988, and $US900 million in 1989.

Somewhere in the range of 1992 and 1996, Rawlings eased command over the judiciary and civil society, permitting a more autonomous Supreme Court and the distribution of free papers. Resistance groups worked outside of parliament and held rallies and conferences.