Former President of Ghana, Jerry Rawlings, belonged to a generation of young soldiers who were anxious about reforms in West Africa. Its impact on Ghana’s political life has been unique and lasting.
Jerry John Rawlings had already gone down in history during his lifetime. Nickname ” the redeemer In Ghana or the “African Che” of the international press, he was one of the rare African heads of state who had left power peacefully after reforming his country deeply.
A champion of “good governance”, thisfree soul What does not mock his words is the adoration of several generations of Africans for the values of integrity and respect for the people he defended. For some, he represents a heroic figure, the same size as Captain Thomas Sankara, with whom he was friends.
An electric shock to the ruling class
This former flight captain with an impressive build and rebellious temperament created history at the age of 32 in 1979. His country, the former and prosperous British Gold Coast, independent since 1957, is sinking into misery. A handful of corrupt generals have been leading since 1966. The son of a Scottish chemical engineer who does not recognize him and a Ghanaian, Jerry Rawlings, became a fighter pilot in 1969.
In the context of hyperinflation and oppression, this strong head missed his first coup in May 1979. He was arrested in Castel, the presidential residence. During his public trial, which he turned into a political platform, he called for an “Ethiopian revolution” that could clear the country of its corrupt leaders. He is acclaimed. Three weeks later he did it again and succeeded in his coup.
He formed a junta and had eight generals, including three former heads of state, shot on a beach, causing the ruling class a real shock. A few months later, he returned power to civilians after elections for which he was not a candidate. In December 1981, he led his third coup, noting that mismanagement and corruption had resumed their rights. And decides to take care of things and positions himself as a liberator against “villain” officials. “Some people think I hate businessmen,” he says, “but I do not. I hate dishonest businessmen because some manage to destroy the moral fiber of our society ”.
Eighteen years of power
The presidency of this African nationalist and left-wing populist is divided into two stages. From 1982 to 1992, the captain with revolutionary accents remained a soldier and returned to the pan-African and third world philosophy of the father of independence, Nkwame N’Krumah. Unlike all “exploiters of Africa”, he is approaching Cuba and Libya. This does not prevent it from following a pragmatic line and in 1983, in the face of the economic crisis, began a course of liberal austerity. It implements one of the first three-year structural adjustment programs with the IMF and the World Bank against support of almost $ 1 billion for 1984 and 1985.
After the end of the Cold War, he followed the democratization movement that began with the speech from La Baule, although France by François Mitterrand did not count Ghana in its area of influence. In 1992, while another young soldier, Amadou Toumani Touré (ATT), had just overthrown Moussa Traoré’s dictatorship in Mali, he left the army, introduced multipartism in 1992, founded his party and was elected. Then re-elect without problems in 1996 for a new five-year period.
In 2000, he followed the 1992 Constitution, which limited the number of terms to two. He supported his second place, Vice President John Atta Mills, and bowed to the victory of his opponent John Kufuor and was an example. John Atta Mills was elected in turn in 2008 and formed a government in which Jerry Rawlings did not participate.
A critical voice
“I do not particularly like being described as popular. After all, popularity can be bought. I prefer to pass for a man with confidence, he explained at the RFI microphone in September 2009.
Retired at age 53, Jerry Rawlings, the father of three daughters, has been discreet, while embodying Ghana’s democratic good conscience and playing protection. He was the Special Envoy of the African Union (AU) to Somalia in 2010 and kept an eye on his party, the National Democratic Congress (NDC).
From this came two of his successors, John Atta-Mills (2009-12) and John Mahama (2012-17), whom he regularly criticized and accused them directly of corruption. Ghana, which goes to the polls on December 7 for the next presidential election, is one of the rare West African examples, along with Cape Verde, of countries where democratic shifts are smooth.
With his blog, “JJ” remained available via a contact page with phone number and email to his “office”. He shared his views on the state of Ghana, claiming that “the trap of fame and power corrupts us”, or that “the search for money has led to a state of stupidity and irresponsibility”.
.
