Today in History, exactly 73 years ago, Flt. Lt Jerry John Rawlings was born. He is a former Ghanaian military leader and politician who ruled the country from 1981 to 2001 and also for a brief period in 1979. He led a military junta until 1992, and then served two terms as the democratically elected President of Ghana.Jerry John Rawlings, 1st President of 4th republic of Ghana.
Jerry John Rawlings was born in June 1947 in Accra, Gold Coast, to Victoria Agbotui and James Ramsey John, a chemist from Castle Douglas in Kirkcudbrightshire, Scotland. Rawlings attended Achimota School. He was the only child born to his mother.
He s a former Ghanaian military leader and politician who ruled the country from 1981 to 2001 and also for a brief period in 1979. He led a military junta until 1992 and then served two terms as the democratically elected President of Ghana.
Jerry John Rawlings completed his secondary education at Achimota College in 1967 and had no education outside of Ghana. He joined the Ghana Air Force shortly afterwards. In March 1968, he was posted to Takoradi, in Ghana’s Western Region, to continue his studies.
He graduated in January 1969, and was commissioned as a Pilot Officer. He earned the rank of Flight Lieutenant in April 1978.
Rawlings grew discontent with Acheampong’s government, which had come to power through a successful coup in January 1972.Acheampong was not only accused of corruption, but also of maintaining Ghana’s dependency on pre-colonial powers that led to economic decline and impoverishment.
Flt. Lt. Jerry John Rawlings was part of the Free Africa Movement, an underground movement of military officers who wanted to unify Africa through a series of coups. On 15 May 1979, five weeks prior to civilian elections, Rawlings and six other soldiers staged a coup against the government of General Fred Akuffo, but failed and was arrested by the Ghanaian Military.
Rawlings initially came to power in Ghana as a flight lieutenant of the Ghana Air Force following a coup d’état in 1979 and, after initially handing power over to a civilian government, took back control of the country on 31 December 1981 as the Chairman of the Provisional National Defence Council.
In 1992, Jerry Rawlings resigned from the military, founded the National Democratic Congress, and became the first President of the Fourth Republic. He was re-elected in 1996 for four more years. After two terms in office, the limit according to the Ghanaian Constitution, Rawlings endorsed his vice-president John Atta Mills as presidential candidate in 2000.
Bibliography:
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“FLT LT JERRY JOHN RAWLINGS Former President of The Republic of Ghana”. Archived from the original on 27 December 2012. Retrieved 3 January 2013.
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“Ghana : History | The Commonwealth”. thecommonwealth.org. Retrieved 22 May 2019.
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“Flt.-Lt. (Rtd) Jerry John Rawlings Profile”. Archived from the original on 14 February 2013. Retrieved 3 January 2013.