Jerry John Rawlings

Jerry John Rawlings was a Ghanaian air force officer and politician who ruled Ghana briefly in 1979 and then from 31 December 1981 to 7 January 2001. He led two military governments before founding the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and winning the presidential elections of 1992 and 1996, and he handed power to an elected opposition successor in 2001.

Early life

He was born on 22 June 1947 in Accra to Victoria Agbotui, an Ewe from Dzelukope near Keta, and James Ramsey John, a Scottish pharmacist. He attended Achimota School, joined the Ghana Air Force in 1967 as a flight cadet and was commissioned as a pilot officer, rising to Flight Lieutenant.

1979: the AFRC

On 15 May 1979 he led a failed mutiny of junior officers and was put on trial, but on 4 June 1979 soldiers freed him and overthrew the Supreme Military Council. As chairman of the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council he launched a "house-cleaning" campaign against corruption, during which three former heads of state, Ignatius Acheampong, Fred Akuffo and Akwasi Afrifa, were executed. He handed power to the elected President Hilla Limann on 24 September 1979.

1981 to 1992: the PNDC

On 31 December 1981 he overthrew Limann and set up the Provisional National Defence Council. After the economic crisis of 1983 his government adopted an IMF and World Bank structural adjustment programme that restored growth but brought hardship and criticism. Under pressure for democracy, the PNDC oversaw a new constitution, approved in a referendum in April 1992.

President

Standing for the NDC, which he founded, he won the presidential election of November 1992 and was sworn in as the first President of the Fourth Republic on 7 January 1993. He was re-elected in 1996. Barred from a third term, he handed over to John Agyekum Kufuor of the NPP on 7 January 2001, the first peaceful transfer of power between parties in Ghana's history.

Later life and death

He remained the NDC's founder and a sharp critic of governments, including his own party's. From 2010 to 2012 he was the African Union's High Representative for Somalia. He died at Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital on 12 November 2020, aged 73, and after a state funeral in January 2021 was buried at the Military Cemetery in Accra.

Family

He married Nana Konadu Agyeman, whom he met at Achimota, in 1977. They had four children: Zanetor, a Member of Parliament, Yaa Asantewaa, Amina and Kimathi.