Former President of Ghana, Jerry John Rawlings passed away on 12 November 2020 at the age of 73. He was Ghana’s longest serving Head of State. Shortly after a military coup in 1979, he handed over power to Dr Hilla Limann, President of the 3rd Ghanaian Republic. After another coup on 31 December 1981, Rawlings took over as Chairman of the Provincial National Defence Council (PNDC) and ruled Ghana in that capacity till January 1993.
In 1992, Rawlings resigned from the military as Fight Lieutenant, founded the National Democratic Congress Party, and was elected President of Ghana in democratic elections held under a new Constitution, of the 4th Republic of Ghana. The new Constitution provides for two 4-year terms for the President of Ghana. He served twice as the elected President from January 1993 to January 2001, then handed over power to John Agyekum Kufuor, who led the opposition New Patriot Party to victory. Since then, Ghana has seen democratic change of power every four years. Smooth transfer of power from one political party to the other is now an unquestioned way of life in Ghana.
I first met Jerry Rawlings in February 2009 at a national day reception when I was serving as India’s Envoy to Ghana. The inauguration of a new President, his former Vice President and chosen successor, Prof John Atta Mills had taken place a few weeks earlier. Rawlings surprised me with an impromptu military salute when I walked up to him and introduced myself. Seeing my surprise, he said charmingly that he had to honour the representative of the great country, India, that I was representing. We agreed to an early meeting. I was keen to meet him as several members of the affluent Indian community were apprehensive of the policies and measures that the new government would follow. The community felt that Rawlings’ regime had been harsh on the middle class and his policies had often been unsupportive of private enterprise.
I met him a week later. Rawlings was accompanied by some of his aides, including his former Foreign Minister. He welcomed me warmly, then talked without pause for almost 45 minutes, moving from one end of the sofa to the other. As soon as he stopped, the former Foreign Minister took the baton, smoothly passing it back to Rawlings. I almost gave up but found a way to interject and speak to him about apprehensions of the Indian community. In that meeting, I was able to get some reassurance for the apprehensive Indian community. Perhaps it was facing up to the full force of his personality that opened the door, but we became friends after that meeting. Rawlings drove to my farewell reception at India House from his village in eastern Ghana, close to Togo border, saying that he wouldn’t have missed it for anything in the world. That was our last meeting.
Rawlings has left behind a controversial legacy. While he was dearly loved by many poor Ghanaians, there were others who suffered intensely under his rule. Rawlings’ regime was marked by accusations of human rights abuses, including the killing of former heads of state and army generals, as well as the execution of Supreme Court judges. Ghanaians migrated in large numbers to other countries in Africa, Europe and North America. During these hard times, many Ghanaians had conspicuous collar bones caused by hunger and undernourishment. With their wry sense of humour, Ghanaians, called them “Rawlings’ Necklace”.
I will remember Rawlings as a fascinating personality of modern times. Perhaps the only military leader in the world to have successfully led two military coups, following an unsuccessful one and then get democratically elected twice as the President of his country, before peacefully handing over power. After his retirement from active politics, he remained a credible political force in Ghanaian polity and retained significant personal following and popularity.
(Mrs Ruchi Ghanashyam is the former High Commissioner of India to the UK. With a career in Indian Foreign Service for over 38 years, she has been posted in many countries including Ghana, before arriving in the UK. She was only the second woman High Commissioner to the UK since India’s independence and during her tenure, she witnessed a number of significant developments in the UK-India relations).
