Rawlings

Jerry John Rawlings (born Jeremiah Rawlings John June 22, 1947 in Accra) was twice the head of state of Ghana, a military dictator. more...

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He first appeared on the Ghanaian political scene on May 15, 1979 when an unsuccessful coup d'état he led resulted in his arrest, imprisonment, and a death sentence. But before he could be executed, his friends in the Ghana military led by Major Boakye Djan overthrew the then military government of General Fred Akuffo in a bloody coup on June 4, 1979. Major Boakye-Djan and his men also set Rawlings free from prison, and installed him as head of the new government - the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC). At the time of the coup, Ghana was already far into the process of returning to civilian rule and general elections were already scheduled. Hence, the AFRC was forced to hand over power to Dr. Hilla Limann who won the popular vote in the election to establish the Third Republic. Less than two years later, Dr. Limann's civilian and constitutional government was overthrown again by Jerry Rawlings on December 31, 1981. He then installed the Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC) regime. So in all Jerry Rawlings performed three coups d'etat in Ghana, two of which were successful.

In the early 1990s internal pressures led by a group identified with the Danquah-Busia tradition coupled with external pressures from Ghana's development partners forced the PNDC dictatorship to accept constitutional rule. Rawlings on many platforms professed his hatred for multiparty democracy saying that it was alien to the Ghanaian people. But as elections drew near, he switched from being a military dictator, retired from the military, then run and won in the 1992 elections which the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) claimed was a stolen verdict although international observers judged the elections largely free and fair.

After two terms in office, barred by the constitution from standing in any election, he anointed his vice-president John Atta-Mills as his choice to replace him as President. Ghanaians rejected his choice in the 2000 election by voting for the opposition NPP's candidate, John Kufuor.

Rawlings is married to Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings and has four children: three girls and a boy. He is the joint recipient of the 1993 World Hunger Award.

Background

Rawlings was born to the Scottish pharmacist James Ramsay John and his Ghanaian Ewe mistress, Victoria Agbotui. His father had migrated to the then Gold Coast in 1935 with his wife Mary to work for the United Africa Company (UAC). In 1941 he started an affair with Madam Agbotui, then a caterer at the State House in Ghana. The relationship ended in 1947, the same year that Rawlings was born. James John refused to acknowledge Rawlings as his son - right up until his death in 1982.

Read more at Wikipedia.org