Jerry John Rawlings got involved in national politics as Ghana was in the throes of food shortage and a dire economy that had led to rampant inflation. People remember him for leading by example.
I remember watching him on the daily evening newscast on GTV on black and white TV as a 1996 toddler. Though I did not understand what was going on, I just loved seeing him on our small Black and White TV.
Watching his video clips showed a bare-chested officer in a military jumpsuit leading teams of volunteers hammering in nails and lifting timber planks into place to build rail tracks needed to cart cocoa beans from farms deep inland to the harbours to earn much-needed export revenue.
Huge crowds turned out to hear him chastise the political elite.
People would be spellbound as he gestured, swayed his body, growled, and sometimes joked while emphasising his key message of ending rife indiscipline and corruption.
“Probity, transparency and accountability” were buzzwords he used frequently to describe the standard he expected from public officeholders.
His critics argued that he fell short of these expectations. They accuse him of human rights abuses, including the execution of two former heads of state and army generals accused of economic sabotage, abuse of power to amass wealth and misuse of state funds.
Political opponents also accused his administration of being intolerant to dissent while human rights campaigners were outraged at the arrest and imprisonment of opposition leaders.
Today, the big tree which is described by others as a nim tree has fallen and the forest is much disturbed. African tradition elders will say when great trees fall
in forests, small things recoil into silence and their senses are eroded beyond fear.
Rawlings died on 12 November 2020 at Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital in Accra, a week after having been admitted for a short term illness in Ghana.
His death came nearly two months after that of his mother, Victoria Agbotui, on 24 September 2020. President Nana Akufo-Addo declared a seven-day period of mourning in his honor and flags flown at half-mast.
A schedule for the signing of the Book of Condolence was opened in his memory.
