Former Ghana President Jerry Rawlings, who credited for the foundation for the country’s enduring democracy, has died. He was aged 73.
Rawlings who came to political limelight after staging a military coup d’etat in 1979, died of Covid-19 complications.
A statement by Ghana’s President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, said Rawlings died on Thursday at 10:10 AM at the Korie-Bu Teaching Hospital, where he was receiving treatment.
President Akufo-Addo has directed all national flags to be flown at half-mast for seven days. He also ordered a seven day national mourning.
“In honour of the former President Rawlings, the Vice President and I have suspended our political campaigns for same period,” Akufo-Addo said.
“Government will work closely with the family of President Rawlings on the arrangements for a fitting State Funeral for the late President, and will keep the nation informed accordingly.”
Rawlings seized power twice in military coups. His takeovers in 1979 and 1981 were marked by authoritarian rule and the executions of senior military officers, including General Frederick Akuffo, whom he overthrew in the first coup.
But Rawlings went on to oversee Ghana’s transition to multiparty democracy, winning election in 1992 and 1996 before stepping down in 2001.
Today, Ghana is considered one of West Africa’s most mature democracies and regularly sees power change hands between its two main parties.
“A great tree has fallen, and Ghana is poorer for this loss,” President Akufo-Addo said in a statement on Rawlings’ death.
John Mahama, leader of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) party that Rawlings founded, said in a Twitter message he had suspended campaigning for the 7 December presidential election.
The election will pit Akufo-Addo against his main challenger Mahama, a former president who lost to Akufo-Addo in a 2016 election, and other candidates from smaller parties.
The son of a Scottish father and Ghanaian mother, Rawlings first came to power in the 1979 coup when he was an air force lieutenant. He transferred power to civilian rule soon after but then led another coup two years later, decrying government corruption and weak leadership.
From 1981 to 1993, he ruled as chairman of a joint military-civilian government. In 1992 he was elected president under a new constitution, taking up that office the following year.
As president, he liberalised Ghana’s economy, encouraging investment in the oil and gold sectors.
In 2001, he handed over power to John Kufour of the opposition party, who had defeated Rawlings’ vice-president in the previous year’s election.
After stepping down, Rawlings remained a power broker in Ghanaian politics while serving in various international diplomatic posts, including as the African Union’s representative in Somalia.
“Africa has lost a stalwart of Pan-Africanism and a charismatic continental statesman,” Moussa Faki, AU commission chair, said on Twitter.
– with agency reports
