BY SIMON AMEGASHIE-VIGLO
“When monkeys heard that the man who had persistently and continously driven them away from destroying a maize farm along the river had died, they celebrated his death with messianic applause and tremendous delight. The following year, there was ironically no maize for them to eat and there was severe famine among them. It was then that the monkeys sadly realised that the man whose death they had naively celebrated, was the farmer whose maize they had eaten for ages”.
Breaking news of the sudden death of H.E. Flt. Lt. Jerry John Rawlings, on Thursday 12th November 2020, in less than three weeks after the burial of his mother in Keta, was received in the Volta Region with profound disbelief. This disbelief quickly evaporated and was eventually replaced with shock, pain, disillusionment and sorrow, upon confirmation. The news precipitated feelings of frustration, despair and sorrow. It also provoked the gnashing of teeth among men, stampeding among children and weeping among women. The primordial silk-cotton tree that gave us identity, protection and security, has been eaten up by termites of spite and hatred. And we wept in despair, thinking aloud among ourselves, “How can the Founder die so suddenly, in less than three weeks of the burial of his mother, Madam Victoria Agbotui in Dzelukope?”
The region was thrown into a state of spontaneous sorrow and mourning, marked by red and black costume processions through the principal streets of major towns and villages and the holding of vigils in his memory. Tributes were paid and documentaries on his life and works were shown in his honour.
We hereby extend our condolences to the entire Agbotui and allied families of Dzelukope, the Anlo Traditional Council, Her Excellency Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings and her children, (Hon Dr Zanetor Agyeman-Rawlings, Yaa Asantewaa, Amina and Kimathi Agyeman-Rawlings) for the loss of this illustrious and illustrated man.
Flt Lt Jerry John Rawlings was a charismatic and an unpredictable man with complex and multiple characteristics. He was first and foremost, an epitome of bravery and charisma who demonstrated selfless dedication to duty and boldly accepted responsibility for his actions. When he and a few junior officers of the Ghana Armed Forces made the bold attempt to topple the Supreme Military Council (SMC II) regime on 15th May 1979, Flt Lt Jerry John Rawlings, accepted full responsibility for his action and pleaded with the authorities that his men should be left alone because they were simply acting on his instructions. He boldly stated during his public trial in Burma Hall Accra that, he was disillusioned and dismayed about the tarnished image of the Ghana Armed Forces. He regretted that nothing was being done to restore the tarnished image and integrity of the Armed Forces despite the removal of General Kutu Acheampong in a palace by General Fred Akuffo in July 1978. Flt Lt Jerry John Rawlings saw the prevailing incidence of greed, bribery and corruption and incompetence under the military regime as a sacrifice of the will of the people and a betrayal of their trust.
By far the most enduring legacy of Flt Lt Jerry John Rawlings is the arrest of the devastating economic depression that had engulfed the country in the late 1970s and 1980s. The political climate in the country at that time was characterised by social injustice, bribery and corruption, nepotism and a system of cheating known as kalabule. Kalabule was a period of unethical business practices between 1974 and 1979, marked by the hoarding of goods and selling them at exorbitant prices, conditional sales, unbridled cheating including the sale of saw dust as milo, sea water as perfume, broken glasses as diamonds, bronze filings as gold, allocation of import licenses to privileged business women with connections and the use of counterfeit currency notes. The socio-political conditions in the country were aggravated in 1983, with the repatriation of over one million Ghanaians from Nigeria, the destruction of food stocks by bushfires, shortage of food and famine.
During this period of acute suffering and deprivation, essential commodities like milk, milo, soap, mackerel, baby food, toilet roll, rice and sugar were in short supply. Ghanaians had to queue for several hours before getting the opportunity to purchase these items at exorbitant prices.
In order to remedy the country from these pathetic economic conditions, Flt Lt Jerry John Rawlings under the Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC) regime, embarked on an economic recovery programme, structural adjustment and stabilisation programme, and Programme of Action to Mitigate the Social Cost of Adjustment (PAMSCAD), all meant to restore stability and productivity of the economy.
Flt Lt Jerry John Rawlings will in addition be remembered for introducing the District Assembly concept as a vehicle for decentralisation of power to the grassroots for the promotion of collaborative democratic participation in decision making processes. Today, the District and Municipal Assemblies and Assembly men and women in the country are responsible for planning, education, agriculture, infrastructure development and security of their people because of charismatic and visionary leadership of one man.
Furthermore, Flt Lt Jerry John Rawlings was appalled with the suffering that women and children went through when a bread winner died without a will. This scenario gave him compelling reason to enact the Interstate Succesion Law, PNDC Law 111, for ensuring and securing equitable sharing of the property of relatives who died without the preparation of a will.
One of the key legacies of the charismatic Flt Lt Jerry John Rawlings is the institutionalisation of the principles of probity and accountability in the fouth Republic Constitution of Ghana. He was highly allergic to acts of dishonesty, greed, corruption and fraudulent deals among public office holders. He made tremendous efforts to discourage acts of corruption among his appointees by dismissing them anytime they were found guilty. He was of the firm opinion that greed and corruption undermined the cornerstones of our democratic aspirations.
Finally Lt Lt Jerry John Rawlings was a transformational leader who demonstrated great compassion for the underprivileged in society and provided social amenities to improve their living standards. He often gave lift to ordinary old ladies and children as he drove across the country. His leadership witnessed radical expansion in educational opportunities and facilities in Ghana. He built the Volta Regional Hospital, which has now been converted into the Ho Teaching Hospital. He extended water from Kpeve to Ho and to other parts of the Region. He also implemented rural electrification projects that saw the extension of power from the national grid to cities, towns and rural communities throughout the country. Rawlings was emotionally attached to the people of the Volta Region, who loved and supported his regimes throughout his charismatic political career. As a man and an individual, Rawlings was an accomplished pilot, who won the speedbird trophy for best cadet in airmanship on 25th January 1969 at the Military Academy. He participated in voluntary clean up exercises in several towns and on countless occasions. He had love for horse riding, boxing and swimming. He took special delight in encouraging people to live lives of integrity and responsibility.
Flt Lt Jerry John Rawlings has bequeathed to Ghana, a legacy of probity and accountability. He was the founder of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), whose Constitution he signed with his blood. He was also the founder and father of the Fourth Republic of Ghana.
We promise to uphold the values and principles of probity and accountability which you stood for as a testament unto your memory. We salute you and hereby pay you our last respects. We love you most sincerely. But God your maker loves you most. May your soul rest in perfect peace. Fare thee well Chairman Rawlings. Hede nyuie. Baba, baba nawo.
