Jerry Rawlings (Fighter Pilot) - Pics, Videos, Dating, & News Jerry Rawlings Fighter Pilot and Former Politician Male Born Jun 22, 1947 Jerry John Rawlings is a former leader of the Republic of Ghana and the current African Union envoy to Somalia. Rawlings ruled Ghana as a military Leader in 1979 and from 1981 to 1992, and then as the first elected president of the Fourth Republic from 1993 to 2001.… Read More related links Growing Democracy: Lessons From Ghana Huffington Post - Oct 30, 2013 'Co-authored by Katie Smith Milway, writer on sustainable development. Ghana\'s road to democracy has been paved by investments in pro-business policies and access to microcredit, which has helped to build a generation of business owners and broaden the middle class. \nAt a time when several African nations (Egypt, Libya and Tunisia, to name three) are struggling in the transition from dictatorship to democracy, they have much to learn by looking south to another African neighbor, Ghana. ...

Leaders Mourn Death Of Ghana's Bastion Of Democracy Huffington Post - Aug 10, 2012 '\n ACCRA, Ghana â World leaders joined thousands of Ghanaians on Friday for the funeral of President John Atta Mills, who came to symbolize Ghana\'s maturing democracy in a region long plagued by coups and disputed votes. \n\n Atta Mills, 68, came to power in 2009 after winning the closest election in the country\'s history. The peaceful transition of leadership after that vote was lauded as was the swift and orderly inauguration of the country\'s vice president last month following ... Dotsonville Community News August 29th, 2011 Clarksville Leaf Chronicle Google News - Aug 29, 2011 'Ed (Rawhide) Rawlings is served the first banana split by his wife Aline at the annual Dotsonville Community ice cream social, while <mark>Jerry Rawlings</mark> look on.

/ Jenni Comley Combining the annual back-to-school ice cream party with a yard sale Saturday' African Leaders Hold Delayed Fundraiser For Famine Voice Of America (Blog) Google News - Aug 25, 2011 'Former Ghanaian president <mark>Jerry Rawlings</mark>, who is the AU envoy to Somalia, is also present. As many as a dozen African leaders were expected for a meeting that was initially scheduled for early August. It was postponed due to what officials said were ...&nbsp;-&nbsp;-' Learn about the memorable moments in the evolution of Jerry Rawlings. CHILDHOOD 1947 Birth Jerry John Rawlings was born in Accra, Gold Coast, on 22 June 1947, to Victoria Agbotui (born 9 September 1919 in Dzelukope near Keta in what is now the Volta Region of Ghana), and James Ramsey John, a chemist from the United Kingdom, born in Castle Douglas, Scotland, in 1907. … Read More Rawlings attended Achimota School.<br /><br /> Rawlings is married to Nana Konadu Agyeman.

He has three daughters: Ezanetor Rawlings, Yaa Asantewaa Rawlings, Amina Rawlings; and one son, Kimathi Rawlings. Read Less TWENTIES 1968 21 Years Old In March, 1968, he was posted to Takoradi in the Western Region to continue his studies. 1969 22 Years Old He graduated in January 1969, and was commissioned a Pilot Officer, winning the coveted "Speed Bird Trophy" as the best cadet in flying the Su-7 ground attack supersonic jet aircraft. … Read More He earned the rank of Flight Lieutenant (Flt. Lt.) in April 1978. During his service with the Ghanaian Air Force, Rawlings perceived a deterioration of discipline and morale, reflecting the corruption of the Supreme Military Council (SMC) at that time. As promotion brought him into contact with the privileged classes and their social values, his view of the injustices in society hardened. He was thus regarded with some unease by the SMC. He read widely and discussed social and political ideas with a growing circle of like-minded friends and colleagues.

Read Less THIRTIES Show Less In May 1979, Rawlings, together with six other soldiers were arrested, by the Ghanaian Military for a mutiny labelled as a coup attempt (because the military were in power at the time) on the government of General Fred Akuffo, and Rawlings appeared before a General Court Martial, charged with leading a squad of soldiers on 15 May 1979. While awaiting his execution, Rawlings was sprung from custody on 4 June 1979 by a group of soldiers. … Read More He led the insurgent that ousted the Supreme Military Council from office with Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC). On the night of 4 June, lives were lost in both the forces fighting against the military government and those fighting on the side of the insurgency. As one of his first acts in power, Rawlings signed the orders for the execution of a former military president of Ghana who was later executed: Ignatius Kutu Acheampong, and Air Vice-Marshal Yaw Boakye. Four other generalsâKotei, Joy Amedume, Roger Felli, and Utukaâwere also put to death.

Rawlings has never denied responsibility for this.<br /><br /> The Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC), under the Military Marshal of Rawlings, carried out, what Rawlings described as a much wider "house-cleaning exercise". Meanwhile, following a programme already set in motion before the 4 June insurgency. On 24 September 1979, the AFRC military allowed the governing of the People's National Party (PNP) under Hilla Limann. Read Less 1981 34 Years Old Limann's administration was cut short on 31 December 1981, when Rawlings deposed him in another coup. … Read More The Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC), composed of both civilian and soldiers, was established with Rawlings as the Chairman. The PNDC, led by Flight Lieutenant Jerry John Rawlings began the process of what Rawlings said to be a decentralisation.<br /><br /> Immediately following the overthrow of the Gen. Akufo government, Rawlings and his men embarked on what was termed "house-cleaning". They immediately tried and executed General Akufo, Gen. I. K.Acheampong, and Gen.

Afrifa, all former heads of state, who had participated in earlier treasonable coups against former Presidents like Nkrumah. Air Vice Marshal Yaw Boakye, General Utuka, Amedume, Feli and Kotei were also executed for their roles in undermining the image of the military through corrupt acts.<br /><br /> The killings of the Supreme Court justices (Cecilia Koranteng Addo, Frederick Sarkodie, and Kwadjo Agyei Agyepong), military officers Major Sam Acquah and Major Dasana Nantogmah and the killings and disappearance of over 300 other Ghanaians occurred at this time in Ghana's history. Read Less FORTIES Show Less He was re-elected in 1996 for a further four years. … Read More He currently serves as the African Union envoy to Somalia.<br /><br /> Rawlings attempted a coup d'Ã©tat on 15 May 1979, leading a group of military personnel in a coup attempt on General Fred Akuffo which resulted in him being arrested, imprisoned and facing a death sentence.

However, a speech he gave during his trial resonated with a large section of the public that rose up in his defence. Consequently, on 4 June, soldiers sympathetic to his motivations broke him out of jail, and he led a revolt of both the military and civilians which overthrew General Akuffo and the Supreme Military Council, effectively leaving him in charge. Rawlings and the soldiers around him formed the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC) and conducted what it termed "a housecleaning exercise", whose aim was to purge Ghanaian society of all the corruption and social injustices that they perceived to be at the root of their coup d'Ã©tat. Read Less … The AFRC organized an election and it was won by Hilla Limann of the People's National Party (PNP). On 31 December 1981 Rawlings and together with some soldiers and civilians took advantage of new year festivities organized by Limann and overthrew the Limann government, citing economic mismanagement. Rawlings then installed the Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC) with himself as the Chairman. <br /><br />In 1992, Rawlings retired from the military and set up the National Democratic Congress (NDC).

He legalized political parties and organized Presidential and Parliamentary elections, in response to demands for a more democratic process concerning the governing of the country. Rawlings and his party won with 58.3 percent of the vote, with outside observers declaring the voting to be "free and fair". Read Less In 1996, Rawlings went on to win a second term as President. FIFTIES President Jerry John Rawlings An accomplished and award-winning Ghana Air Force Fighter Pilot, Flt. Lt. J.J. Rawlings emerged onto Ghana’s political scene at the age of 31, when on May 15 1979 he led a group of junior ranks in an unsuccessful insurrection aimed at stopping the political and economic decadence that had engulfed Ghana for over a decade. Specifically, his motive was to persuade senior officers to listen to the need to ‘cleanse’ the Armed Forces of the corruption engendered by years of rule by the military before the elections scheduled for June 1979. He was arrested, along with the six airmen, and brought before a General Court Martial.

With the publicity given the trial, there was strong public reaction in support of Rawlings when his defence statement was presented in court, outlining the country’s economic deterioration and social injustice that had prompted him to act. This, and with his pronouncements that the court set his men free and hold him solely responsible for the mutiny, ignited a mood of both the Armed Forces and the general public, subsequently unleashing a spontaneous uprising of the Armed Forces on the 4th of June 1979 when a number of junior military personnel released him from custody, fearing his execution. Upon his release, he was thrust into the chairmanship of the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC), which had ousted the Supreme Military Council. He met a chaotic situation characterised by anger and cries from the Armed Forces, students and workers to “let the blood flow.” He was able to bring the demand for executions under control and to the surprise of many, to ensure that the scheduled elections took place. He channelled the rage of the people into a ‘housecleaning exercise’ and in less than four months, handed over to the newly elected government.

As Economic and social conditions in Ghana continued to deteriorate under the Limann Administration, more and more people quietly rallied to Rawlings’ call for a new order of social justice. This support came not only from obvious quarters – workers, farmers, the youth, students and junior ranks of the Armed Forces – but also from a growing number of intellectuals, lawyers, engineers and other professionals, members of the clergy and senior officers of the Armed Forces. On the 31st December 1981, Rawlings led the popular 31st December Revolution, which ousted the Limann Administration and the Third Republic. In a radio broadcast he called for “nothing less than a revolution” in which every citizen should shoulder his or her share of the responsibility for social justice and meaningful development. The Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC) was established, which included both military and civilian members. The government as a whole including PNDC Secretaries (Ministers) was predominantly civilian. In workplaces and communities, Defence Committees (PDCs and WDCs) were set up, which were later restructured as Committees for the Defence of the Revolution (CDRs) with clear and practical functions.

CONNECT Jerry Rawlings - 必应 Sign in Jerry Rawlings Jerry John Rawlings (born 22 June 1947) is a former head of state and president of Ghana. Rawlings initially came to power in Ghana as a flight lieutenant of the Ghana Air Force following a coup d'état in 1979 and, after initially handing power over to a civilian government, took back control of the country on 31 December 1981 as the Chairman of the Provisional National Defence Council. In 1992 Rawlings resigned from the Armed Forces, founded the National Democratic Congress and became the first president of the Fourth Republic. He was re-elect ... (展开) ed in 1996 for a further four years. He currently serves as the African Union envoy to Somalia. Rawlings attempted a coup d'état on 15 May 1979, leading a group of military personnel in a coup attempt on General Fred Akuffo which resulted in him being arrested, imprisoned and facing a death sentence. However, a speech he gave during his trial resonated with a large section of the public that rose up in his defence.

Consequently, on 4 June, soldiers sympathetic to his motivations broke him out of jail, and he led a revolt of both the military and civilians which overthrew General Akuffo and the Supreme Military Council, effectively leaving him in charge. Rawlings and the soldiers around him formed the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC) and conducted what it termed "a housecleaning exercise", whose aim was to purge Ghanaian society of all the corruption and social injustices that they perceived to be at the root of their coup d'état. The AFRC organized an election and it was won by Hilla Limann of the People's National Party (PNP). On 31 December 1981 Rawlings and together with some soldiers and civilians took advantage of new year festivities organized by Limann and overthrew the Limann government, citing economic mismanagement. Rawlings then installed the Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC) with himself as the Chairman. In 1992, Rawlings retired from the military and set up the National Democratic Congress (NDC),. He legalized political parties and organized Presidential and Parliamentary elections, in response to demands for a more democratic process concerning the governing of the country.

Rawlings and his party won with 58.3 percent of the vote, with outside observers declaring the voting to be "free and fair". In 1996, Rawlings went on to win a second term as President. After two terms in office, barred by his constitution from standing in any election, Rawlings endorsed his vice-president John Atta Mills as presidential candidate in 2000. Jerry John Rawlings (born 22 June 1947) is a former head of state and president of Ghana. Rawlings initially came to power in Ghana as a flight lieutenant ... Jerry Rawlings的用法讲解 法语助手是权威的法语在线词典,为您提供Jerry Rawlings的中文意思,Jerry Rawlings的读音,Jerry Rawlings的同义词,Jerry Rawlings的反义词,Jerry ... Jerry J. Rawlings, in full Jerry John Rawlings (born June 22, 1947, Accra, Ghana), military and political leader in Ghana who twice (1979, 1981) overthrew the ... President Jerry John Rawlings. 61,068 likes · 82 talking about this.

Former Head of State of the Republic of Ghana, Flt Lt Jerry John Rawlings, is... View the profiles of people named Jerry Rawlings. Join Facebook to connect with Jerry Rawlings and others you may know. Facebook gives people the power... What will Rawlings do? | Special Report | Africa Confidential What will Rawlings do? Flight Lieutenant Jerry John Rawlings staged his first military coup as a young revolutionary in May 1979. When it failed, he was imprisoned and sentenced to death. Following another coup mounted by junior army officers in June 1979, Rawlings was set free, and became Head of State under the banner of the the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council. In September 1979, the AFRC handed over power to Hilla Limann of the People's National Party, after he won the presidential elections. In 1981, Rawlings toppled Limann in yet another coup. He remained a military dictator for 12 years until he was elected President in 1993, a position he held until 2001, when John Kufuor's New Patriotic Party (NPP) government came to power.

Although praised by many in the West as a democratic figure, especially in comparison to his counterparts in Sierra Leone and Liberia, Rawlings has not been able to shake off the stigma of military dictator. From the Africa Confidential archives AC Vol 20 No 13 | 20 June 1979 As we go to press, it appears that either the Popular Front Party (PFP), led by Victor Owusu, or the People's National party (PNP), led by Dr. Hilla Limann, is likely to emerge as the eventual winner of the elections begun on June 18. But in the minds of Ghanaians the real question is not "Who is the new civilian leader?" so much as "When—if ever—will Flt. Lt. Jerry Rawlings and the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC) (which came to power in a coup on June 4) hand over to the civilians?" Rawlings' assumption of power seems to have initially been welcomed by most ordinary Ghanaians, although it met with considerable scepticism and anxiety among many intellectuals, politicians and older folk.

(To be exact, those politicians who stood to fare poorly in the election were relatively enthusiastic, while those who looked well-placed felt otherwise). At first, in the minds of many Ghanaians in the street and in the villages, Rawlings undoubtedly won the mantle of a folk hero and was viewed as a man unfairly gaoled by the then head of state, Gen. Fred Akuffo, and as an idealist burning with a desire for social justice. But the summary shooting of Akuffo's predecessor, Gen. Kutu Acheampong, without a proper trial, has certainly dampened the enthusiasm of many, even though Acheampong's rule was widely regarded as exceedingly venal. Rawlings and his friends had already bungled one coup attempt when they tried to seize power on May 15. After a struggle, in which one officer was killed and some hostages, including the British military attaché, were held for a time, they surrendered. But it was Rawlings’ testimony at his subsequent court martial that inspired his rise in popularity.

There were rounds of applause in the court when he explained his disillusion and disgust at the fact that not one of the notoriously corrupt senior military men in the Acheampong government had been prosecuted. Gen. Fred Akuffo had talked much about “accountability” when with his fellow officers he pushed Acheampong from power in July 1978. He forced many into retirement and set up commissions of inquiry to investigate some of the worst dens of corruption—the cocoa industry, timber and shipping. But none appeared in court. Many Ghanaians began to suspect that any evidence that might be given would implicate other members of Akuffo’s Supreme Military Council—perhaps even Akuffo himself. The final straw for the young officers was the decision to release Acheampong: he was cashiered from the army and confined to his Ashanti village, but, with millions reputedly salted away, he remained untouched and unprosecuted. Early in the morning of June 4 Rawlings was sprung from detention in Burma Camp, outside Accra. We understand it was carried out by an airforce corporal who led Rawlings to Broadcasting House where he broadcast his call to the junior ranks of the armed forces to mutiny.

He then apparently took off in an airforce plane. Later in the day Gen. Neville Odartey-Wellington, head of the army, arrived at Broadcasting House in an armoured car, blasted his way in with machine guns, causing several casualties, and broadcast that the coup attempt has been defeated. He later amended this to an appeal to Rawlings to come for talks. Rawlings later returned to Accra and engaged in a shoot-out with armoured cars firing machine-guns at Odartey-Wellington’s position. The general rejected calls to surrender and was shot dead as a police station was stormed. Col. Joseph Enninful, who had been trying Rawlings by court martial, was also shot dead, together with his wife. Rawlings then assumed complete control and no further resistance has been reported. Rawlings’ first big meeting was with all eleven presidential candidates, with the much noticed exception of Victor Owusu of the Popular Front Party, and with representatives of all six political parties. By all accounts it was a friendly meeting. Rawlings humbly asked the help of the politicians and gave assurances that the election would be held on schedule. He later decided to bring the new constitution into force on October 1.

The idea of an elected president waiting in the wings until October, while the AFRC ‘cleans up’ seems bizarre to many Ghanaians, but Rawlings points to the American example, where a new president must wait over two months before assuming office. Son of a Scottish father and an Ewe mother, Rawlings is remembered by people who have known him since his days at Ghana’s smart Achimota School as a fairly able but extremely volatile personality. In addition, his apparent eminence grise and spokesman on the AFRC, Capt. Boakye-Djan, is like-wise considered clever but embittered. The other eight members of the council include two majors, but the rest hold lesser rank. Under half are officers, and have never exercised any substantial form of authority before. They are unlikely to inspire much immediate confidence in the foreign bankers and IMF economists whose assistance the Ghanaian economy direly needs. Parallels with the single-minded Ethiopian junior officers and NCOs who have countenanced the violence that has marked the post-Haile Selassie era in Addis Ababa have been drawn—allegedly by Rawlings himself. But he has strongly denied any Communist inclination.

There is in any case “no difference” between the American and Russian systems, he is said to have declared. Many Ghanaians, it must be added, although stunned by the executions and fearful of further possible bloodletting, agree with Rawlings that a drastic ‘clean up’ is long overdue. But other anxieties are also besetting the populace. For a start, there is much talk that Rawlings’ AFRC is dominated by the Ewe, at the expense mainly of the Ga and Ashanti. Odartey-Wellington, it has been noted, was much respected by his fellow Ga. Owusu, it has been pointed out, is one of the late Acheampong’s fellow Ashanti. Alongside the AFRC stands a shadowy civilian ‘advisory’ group, which is said to include three Roman Catholic priests. The key adviser, we hear, is Kenneth Acquah, a former employee of the Central Bank and brother of Budu Acquah, one of Nkrumah’s leading ideologues. Kenneth Acquah has been an agent for military intelligence under previous administrations and is valued for his knowledge and contacts from the past.

Another important figure may be the trade unionist and former disciple of Nkrumah, Tetegah, another Ewe. Although the People’s National Party (PNP) led by Limann is often considered the natural heir to Nkrumah’s old party, it is unknown whom—if anyone—Rawlings himself would favour, though his step-father, Prof. K. Adu-Boahene, has campaigned vigorously for the United National Convention (UNC) led by William Ofori-Atta, often thought a notably ‘clean’ contender but too old to attract a mass following. More than a mutiny? It is not yet known, however, how secure a grip Rawlings has imposed on the security forces, upon whom he ultimately must depend. The ‘revolution’ was certainly no national uprising. It was essentially a mutiny led by a few junior airforce officers and some junior members of the 5th army battalion. The elite 1st infantry battalion stationed at Tema initially remained loyal to its officers and was reluctant to submit to the command of Capt. Smith, an associate of Rawlings.

The possibility of a counter-coup, rumoured to be imminent two days after the June 4 putsch, cannot yet be entirely discounted. The key army defector from Akuffo to Rawlings was Lt.-Gen. Joshua Hamidu, who seems to have been pressed more or less willingly into becoming the liaison officer between the AFRC and the governmental and army machinery. Whatever his hold over the security forces, Rawlings’ most urgent task is the same as that which defeated Acheampong and Akuffo before him: to prevent the already bankrupt country from descending into the utter chaos that seems imminent. There were numerous examples of indiscipline among soldiers immediately following the coup. Lebanese and Syrians were harassed on arbitrary charges of corruption. Young solders who support the AFRC forcibly shaved the heads of senior officers supposedly associated with the former government. There were three days of looting by army and police after June 4 in such places as the Makola market. With inflation still running at around 100%, many Ghanaians are finding it hard merely to survive.

Low-paid workers receive around 5 cedis per day, while the cost of basic good us as follows: a plantain: 1 cedi; a tin of milk: 3.75 cedis; two small maize cobs: 2 cedis; 1 cassava: 3 cedis; 1 yam: 10 cedis. It is understandable, therefore, that nurses, who receive around 6 cedis a day, have been on strike. And there is much urban discontent at low wages. The AFRC has peremptorily ordered shops to sell at fixes prices which in effect may put businesses entirely out of operation, because they can only make profits by selling at far above the official prices. There could be a large increase in shortages and food riots may even ensue. Hospitals, too, are almost defunct, through lack of medicine and drugs. The transport system is breaking down through lack of spares and petrol. It was perhaps unfortunate that an IMF team was in Accra on June 4. Its members were, we hear, ‘unamused’ by the soldiers who burst into the Ambassador Hotel, where the IMF group was staying, and looted the bar.

Yet Rawlings appears to believe that if army discipline is restored and corruption —“rape and plunder”, he has called it — is ended, then all will be well. Given the increasing turbulence that such economic distress may well provoke, Rawlings may find it harder to surrender power after October 1 than to retain it. If either Owusu or Limann takes over, the task will be no less daunting. SUBSCRIBE Jerry Rawlings, President • Biography & Facts Jerry Rawlings President Jerry John Rawlings (born 22 June 1947) is a former head of state and president of Ghana. Rawlings initially came to power in Ghana as a flight lieutenant of the Ghana Air Force following a coup d'état in 1979 and, after initially handing power over to a civilian government, took back control of the country on 31 December 1981 as the Chairman of the Provisional National Defence Council. In 1992 Rawlings resigned from the Armed Forces, founded the National Democratic Congress and became the first president of the Fourth Republic. He was re-elected in 1996 for a further four years.

He currently serves as the African Union envoy to Somalia.Rawlings attempted a coup d'état on 15 May 1979, leading a group of military personnel in a coup attempt on General Fred Akuffo which resulted in him being arrested, imprisoned and facing a death sentence. However, a speech he gave during his trial resonated with a large section of the public that rose up in his defence. Consequently, on 4 June, soldiers sympathetic to his motivations broke him out of jail, and he led a revolt of both the military and civilians which overthrew General Akuffo and the Supreme Military Council, effectively leaving him in charge. Rawlings and the soldiers around him formed the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC) and conducted what it termed "a housecleaning exercise", whose aim was to purge Ghanaian society of all the corruption and social injustices that they perceived to be at the root of their coup d'état.The AFRC organized an election and it was won by Hilla Limann of the People's National Party (PNP).

On 31 December 1981 Rawlings and together with some soldiers and civilians took advantage of new year festivities organized by Limann and overthrew the Limann government, citing economic mismanagement. Rawlings then installed the Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC) with himself as the Chairman.In 1992, Rawlings retired from the military and set up the National Democratic Congress (NDC), legalized political parties and organized Presidential and Parliamentary elections, in response to demands for a more democratic process concerning the governing of the country. Rawlings and his party won with 58.3 percent of the vote, with outside observers declaring the voting to be "free and fair". In 1996, Rawlings went on to win a second term as President.After two terms in office, barred by his constitution from standing in any election, Rawlings endorsed his vice-president John Atta Mills as presidential candidate in 2000.

Personal facts Jerry Rawlings Seizes Power | Ghana, A living History Ghana, A living History A History of Ghana seen through the eyes of Ghanaians June 1979 Jerry Rawlings Seizes Power June 4, 1979 On June 4, 1979, Akuffo’s government was deposed in a violent coup by a group of junior and noncommissioned officers – Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC) – with Flt. Lt. Jerry John Rawlings as its chairman. The AFRC executed eight senior military officers, including former chiefs of state Acheampong and Akuffo; established secret Special Tribunals that tried dozens of military officers, government officials, and private individuals for corruption, sentenced them to long prison terms and confiscating property. Like this: Like Loading... Related This entry was posted on June 4, 1979 at 3:25 am and is filed under Jerry Rawlings Seizes Power .

3 Responses to “Jerry Rawlings Seizes Power” September 11, 2008 at 6:45 am THE 1979 COUP AND THE FIRST RAWLINGS GOVERNMENT Ghana’s third military coup was planned by a small group of disgruntled officers. On May 15, 1979, less than five weeks before the national elections, Flight Lieutenant Jerry John Rawlings and several members of the air force (junior officers and corporals) unsuccessfully tried to overthrow the government. During the court martial of the coup’s seven plotters, Rawlings justified his action by claiming that official corruption had eroded public confidence in the government and had tarnished the image of the armed forces. Rawlings also charged that Syrian and Lebanese businessmen living in Ghana had gained control of the country’s economy at the expense of the African majority. On the night of June 3, 1979, a group of junior officers and enlisted personnel of the Fifth Battalion and the Reconnaissance Regiment in Burma Camp staged a coup and freed Rawlings. These individuals then formed the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC) to rule the country.

The AFRC included a cross section of ranks from private and lance corporal to staff sergeant, airman, lieutenant, and naval commander. Although the scheduled elections occurred as planned on June 18, 1979, the AFRC retained power until September 24, 1979, when President Hilla Limann and the People’s National Party (PNP) assumed control of the government. Meanwhile, the AFRC purged the senior ranks of the armed forces and executed eight officers, three of whom had been former heads of state (Acheampong, Akuffo, and Afrifa). From July to September 1979, special courts held hearings and sentenced 155 military officers, former officials, and wealthy businessmen to prison terms ranging from six months to ninety-five years. Additionally, the AFRC collected back taxes from numerous government officials and threatened to seize the assets of many others unless they refunded money to the state that they had allegedly embezzled or stolen. The AFRC also charged hundreds of military officers with corruption and sentenced them to long prison terms. Many civil servants fell victim to the purge and lost their jobs as well.

September 11, 2008 at 6:48 am THE 1981 COUP AND THE SECOND RAWLINGS GOVERNMENT The combination of official corruption, Rawlings’s continued political activities, and deteriorating economic conditions doomed the Limann government. On December 31, 1981, Rawlings, supported by lower-ranking soldiers, most of whom served in the Reconnaissance Regiment, seized power. Rawlings then established the Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC) to rule the country, dissolved parliament, and banned all political parties. On January 21, 1982, Rawlings appointed a sixteen-member civilian government with a cabinet of secretaries and told them to “serve the people sacrificially.” The PNDC also assumed control of the Ministry of Defence. The Rawlings regime further consolidated its power by promulgating PNDC Law 42, which suspended the constitution and gave the government wide powers over Ghanaian citizens. Shortly after seizing power, Rawlings took action against individuals who had allegedly committed crimes against the Ghanaian people.

In January 1982, for example, the PNDC ordered former members of the banned PNP and other undesirable elements to report to the nearest police station or army barracks. The authorities detained some of these individuals and released others after registering their names. The police and army continued this roundup by arresting allegedly corrupt individuals who had served in the Limann government, former members of parliament, businessmen suspected of trading on the black market, and alleged coup plotters. On June 30, 1982, one or more members of the PNDC and their accomplices abducted and then murdered three High Court of Justice judges and the personnel director of the Ghana Industrial Holdings Corporation. Despite the popularity of the Rawlings regime, there were two coup attempts in late 1982 and in early 1983. On November 23, 1982, a group of soldiers tried to overthrow the regime, initiating hostilities at Gondar Barracks. Government forces, however, defeated the rebels and the police arrested more than twenty people. The other coup attempt occurred on February 27, 1983, when security forces arrested nine soldiers and two civilians in Achimota, near Accra.

The authorities claimed that they also discovered heavy machine guns, rockets, ammunition, and a list of people to be assassinated. Kojo Tsikata, special adviser to the PNDC, also accused the United States embassy of involvement in the coup attempt, but the Ghanaian government never proved this allegation. Challenges to the Rawlings regime continued throughout the 1980s. Between 1985 and 1986, for example, there were at least seven coup attempts. On September 24, 1989, two days after Rawlings had assumed direct command of the armed forces, the government announced that it had foiled yet another attempted coup. The attempt was led by Major Courage Quarshigah, a popular officer in the Ghanaian armed forces, former commandant of the Ghana Military Academy, and a former close ally of Rawlings. Quarshigah and four other army officers were arrested. They were accused of planning to assassinate Rawlings as part of the coup, but several of the accused allegedly favored a return to constitutional rule under a civilian government.

Despite the so-called Quarshigah Affair and other attempted coups, Rawlings remained in control of the PNDC and the armed forces, which he commanded from September 1989 until June 1990. An Economic Recovery Program (ERP), supported by the International Monetary Fund ( IMF–see Glossary) and the World Bank (see Glossary), was adopted to improve the lives of Ghanaians. The Rawlings regime also acceded to popular demands for a democratic, multiparty election. Despite these accomplishments, however, corruption, authoritarianism, and incompetence have continued to be significant problems. FLT LT JERRY JOHN RAWLINGS Former President of The Republic of Ghana (1979, 1981-2001) His Excellency the Former President of Ghana, Flt Lt (rtd) Jerry John Rawlings was born on the June 22nd, 1947 in Accra and was twice the head of state of Ghana. His first political appearance on the Ghanaian scene was 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 Junior Officers and the ranks overthrew the then military government of General Fred Akuffo in a coup on June 4, 1979. The Junior Officers and the ranks set Rawlings free from prison, and installed him as head of the new government – the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC).The AFRC handed 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. 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.

He is a product of Achimota School, and 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. Military Career In March, 1968, he was posted to Takoradi in the Western Region to continue his studies. He graduated in January 1969, and was commissioned a Pilot Officer, winning the coveted “Speed Bird Trophy” as the best cadet in flying and airmanship. He earned the rank of Flight Lieutenant (Flt. Lt.) in April 1978.During his service with the Ghanaian Air Force, Rawlings perceived a deterioration of discipline and morale, reflecting the corruption of the Supreme Military Council (SMC) at that time. As promotion brought him into contact with the privileged classes and their social values, his view of the injustices in society hardened. He was thus regarded with some unease by the SMC. He read widely and discussed social and political ideas with a growing circle of like-minded friends and colleagues.

On May 28, 1979, Rawlings, together with six others who were arrested earlier, appeared before a General Court Martial in Accra, charged with leading a mutiny of junior officers and enlisted men of the Ghanaian Armed Forces on May 15, 1979. There was strong public reaction, especially after his statement had been read in court, explaining the social injustices that had prompted him to act. The ranks of the Armed Forces, in particular, expressed deep sympathy with his stated aims. Military Coup When he was scheduled for another court appearance on 4 June 1979, Rawlings was sprung from custody. With the support of both the military and civilians, he led a coup that ousted the Supreme Military Council from office and brought the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC) to power. The AFRC, under the chairmanship of Rawlings, carried out a much wider “house-cleaning exercise” aimed at purging the armed forces and society at large of corruption and graft as well as restoring a sense of moral responsibility and accountability in public life.

On 24th September 1979, the AFRC handed over power to a civilian government led by the People’s National Party (PNP), under President Hilla Limann. On 31st December 1981, a Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC), composed of both civilian and military members, was established with Rawlings as Chairman. In his second tenure in power, Rawlings’ policies became more centrist, and he began to advocate free-market reforms. However, despite the country’s economic success, the Ghanaian government was criticized both at home and abroad for committing numerous abuses of human rights. In the early 1990s, the economy of Ghana was still not performing as well as it had in the early 1970s, on the other hand, the basic needs of the citizens were being met, many of them by domestic products, and the economy showed steady improvement with guidance from the International Monetary Fund. Rawlings’s reputation on foreign policy received a boost when he acted as a key figure in a mediated peace settlement between factions in nearby Liberia, a nation burdened by five years of civil war.

Democratic President Citizens began demanding a more democratic form of government as the 1990s progressed. Rawlings answered this demand by forming a National Commission for Democracy (NCD), empowered to hold regional debates and formulate some suggestions for a transition to multi-party democracy. Although opposition groups complained that the NCD was too closely associated with the PNDC, the commission continued its work through 1991. In March of that year the NCD released a report recommending the election of an executive president, the establishment of a national assembly, and the creation of a prime minister post. The PNDC accepted the report, and the following year Rawlings legalized political parties–with the provision that none could use names that had been used before–and set a timetable for presidential elections.When these presidential elections were held in 1992, Rawlings stood as the candidate for the National Democratic Congress (NDC), the successor party to the PNDC. Although his opponents were given access to television and newspaper coverage and to the freedom of the press had been lifted–no single candidate could match the popularity of the sitting head of state.

Election returns on November 3, 1992, revealed that Rawlings had won 58.3 percent of the vote, for a landslide victory. Foreign observers declared the voting to be “free and fair.” Almost immediately, the leaders of the country’s opposition parties claimed that the presidential election was not fair, and that widespread abuses had occurred. The leaders encouraged their followers to boycott subsequent parliamentary elections, with the result being that NDC candidates won 189 of 200 seats in the new parliament. Rawlings was therefore accorded a four-year term backed by an elected assembly of supporters for his platform. Answering questions of polling place irregularities, he promised to initiate a new voter registration program to be completed in time for elections in 1996. History Rawlings Advertisement The Rawlings Era On May 15, 1979, less than five weeks before constitutional elections were to be held, a group of junior officers led by Flight Lieutenant Jerry John Rawlings attempted a coup. Initially unsuccessful, the coup leaders were jailed and held for courtmartial .

On June 4, however, sympathetic military officers overthrew the Akuffo regime and released Rawlings and his cohorts from prison fourteen days before the scheduled election. Although the SMC's pledge to return political power to civilian hands addressed the concerns of those who wanted civilian government, the young officers who had staged the June 4 coup insisted that issues critical to the image of the army and important for the stability of national politics had been ignored. Naomi Chazan, a leading analyst of Ghanaian politics, aptly assessed the significance of the 1979 coup in the following statement: Unlike the initial SMC II [the Akuffo period, 1978-1979] rehabilitation effort which focused on the power elite, this second attempt at reconstruction from a situation of disintegration was propelled by growing alienation. It strove, by reforming the guidelines of public behavior, to define anew the state power structure and to revise its inherent social obligations. . . . In retrospect the most irreversible outcome of this phase was the systematic eradication of the SMC leadership. . . .

[Their] executions signaled not only the termination of the already fallacious myth of the nonviolence of Ghanaian politics, but, more to the point, the deadly serious determination of the new government to wipe the political slate clean. Rawlings and the young officers formed the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC). The armed forces were purged of senior officers accused of corrupting the image of the military. In carrying out its goal, however, the AFRC was caught between two groups with conflicting interests, Chazan observed. These included the "soldier-supporters of the AFRC who were happy to lash out at all manifestations of the old regimes; and the now organized political parties who decried the undue violence and advocated change with restraint. Despite the coup and the subsequent executions of former heads of military governments (Afrifa of the NLC; Acheampong and some of his associates of the NRC; and Akuffo and leading members of the SMC), the planned elections took place, and Ghana had returned to constitutional rule by the end of September 1979.

Before power was granted to the elected government, however, the AFRC sent the unambiguous message that "people dealing with the public, in whatever capacity, are subject to popular supervision, must abide by fundamental notions of probity, and have an obligation to put the good of the community above personal objective." The AFRC position was that the nation's political leaders, at least those from within the military, had not been accountable to the people. The administration of Hilla Limann, inaugurated on September 24, 1979, at the beginning of the Third Republic, was thus expected to measure up to the new standard advocated by the AFRC. Limann's People's National Party (PNP) began the Third Republic with control of only seventy-one of the 140 legislative seats. The opposition Popular Front Party (PFP) won forty-two seats, while twenty-six elective positions were distributed among three lesser parties. The percentage of the electorate that voted had fallen to 40 percent. Unlike the country's previous elected leaders, Limann was a former diplomat and a noncharismatic figure with no personal following. As Limann himself observed, the ruling PNP included people of conflicting ideological orientations.

They sometimes disagreed strongly among themselves on national policies. Many observers, therefore, wondered whether the new government was equal to the task confronting the state. The most immediate threat to the Limann administration, however, was the AFRC, especially those officers who organized themselves into the "June 4 Movement" to monitor the civilian administration. In an effort to keep the AFRC from looking over its shoulder, the government ordered Rawlings and several other army and police officers associated with the AFRC into retirement; nevertheless, Rawlings and his associates remained a latent threat, particularly as the economy continued its decline. The first Limann budget, for fiscal year 1981, estimated the Ghanaian inflation rate at 70 percent for that year, with a budget deficit equal to 30 percent of the gross national product . The Trade Union Congress claimed that its workers were no longer earning enough to pay for food, let alone anything else. A rash of strikes, many considered illegal by the government, resulted, each one lowering productivity and therefore national income. In September the government announced that all striking public workers would be dismissed. These factors rapidly eroded the limited support the Limann government enjoyed among civilians and soldiers.

The government fell on December 31, 1981, in another Rawlings-led coup. Ghana - Rawlings Coup Further Reading Ghana - Rawlings Coup On May 15, 1979, less than five weeks before constitutional elections were to be held, a group of junior officers led by Flight Lieutenant Jerry John Rawlings attempted a coup. Initially unsuccessful, the coup leaders were jailed and held for courtmartial . On June 4, however, sympathetic military officers overthrew the Akuffo regime and released Rawlings and his cohorts from prison fourteen days before the scheduled election. Although the SMC's pledge to return political power to civilian hands addressed the concerns of those who wanted civilian government, the young officers who had staged the June 4 coup insisted that issues critical to the image of the army and important for the stability of national politics had been ignored.

Naomi Chazan, a leading analyst of Ghanaian politics, aptly assessed the significance of the 1979 coup in the following statement: Unlike the initial SMC II [the Akuffo period, 1978-1979] rehabilitation effort which focused on the power elite, this second attempt at reconstruction from a situation of disintegration was propelled by growing alienation. It strove, by reforming the guidelines of public behavior, to define anew the state power structure and to revise its inherent social obligations. . . . In retrospect the most irreversible outcome of this phase was the systematic eradication of the SMC leadership. . . . [Their] executions signaled not only the termination of the already fallacious myth of the nonviolence of Ghanaian politics, but, more to the point, the deadly serious determination of the new government to wipe the political slate clean. Rawlings and the young officers formed the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC). The armed forces were purged of senior officers accused of corrupting the image of the military. In carrying out its goal, however, the AFRC was caught between two groups with conflicting interests, Chazan observed.

These included the "soldier-supporters of the AFRC who were happy to lash out at all manifestations of the old regimes; and the now organized political parties who decried the undue violence and advocated change with restraint. Despite the coup and the subsequent executions of former heads of military governments (Afrifa of the NLC; Acheampong and some of his associates of the NRC; and Akuffo and leading members of the SMC), the planned elections took place, and Ghana had returned to constitutional rule by the end of September 1979. Before power was granted to the elected government, however, the AFRC sent the unambiguous message that "people dealing with the public, in whatever capacity, are subject to popular supervision, must abide by fundamental notions of probity, and have an obligation to put the good of the community above personal objective." The AFRC position was that the nation's political leaders, at least those from within the military, had not been accountable to the people. The administration of Hilla Limann, inaugurated on September 24, 1979, at the beginning of the Third Republic, was thus expected to measure up to the new standard advocated by the AFRC.

Limann's People's National Party (PNP) began the Third Republic with control of only seventy-one of the 140 legislative seats. The opposition Popular Front Party (PFP) won forty-two seats, while twenty-six elective positions were distributed among three lesser parties. The percentage of the electorate that voted had fallen to 40 percent. Unlike the country's previous elected leaders, Limann was a former diplomat and a noncharismatic figure with no personal following. As Limann himself observed, the ruling PNP included people of conflicting ideological orientations. They sometimes disagreed strongly among themselves on national policies. Many observers, therefore, wondered whether the new government was equal to the task confronting the state. The most immediate threat to the Limann administration, however, was the AFRC, especially those officers who organized themselves into the "June 4 Movement" to monitor the civilian administration. In an effort to keep the AFRC from looking over its shoulder, the government ordered Rawlings and several other army and police officers associated with the AFRC into retirement; nevertheless, Rawlings and his associates remained a latent threat, particularly as the economy continued its decline.

The first Limann budget, for fiscal year ( FY--see Glossary) 1981, estimated the Ghanaian inflation rate at 70 percent for that year, with a budget deficit equal to 30 percent of the gross national product ( GNP--see Glossary). The Trade Union Congress claimed that its workers were no longer earning enough to pay for food, let alone anything else. A rash of strikes, many considered illegal by the government, resulted, each one lowering productivity and therefore national income. In September the government announced that all striking public workers would be dismissed. These factors rapidly eroded the limited support the Limann government enjoyed among civilians and soldiers. The government fell on December 31, 1981, in another Rawlings-led coup. The new government that took power on December 31, 1981, was the eighth in the fifteen years since the fall of Nkrumah. Calling itself the Provisional National Defense Council (PNDC), its membership included Rawlings as chairman, Brigadier Joseph Nunoo-Mensah (whom Limann had dismissed as army commander), two other officers, and three civilians.

NEWSLETTER BBC NEWS | Africa | The reality of Ghana's independence Printable version The reality of Ghana's independence In his second and final piece, the BBC's reporter in Ghana, Kwaku Sakyi-Addo, looks at what happened to the ambitious dreams at Ghana's independence from Britain 50 years ago in the subsequent decades. Part One: Independence The vision of Kwame Nkrumah, Ghana's first president and the man who led the country to independence in 1957, was to make his country a beacon of success in Africa and power the movement towards African nationalism. Nkrumah was ousted by a coup in 1966 and died in exile in 1972 - but his vision was known to all. He had had the dream, but the reality was much harder - how to turn this former colonial country into a successful African nation. Nkrumah's son, Gamal, says that the "euphoria of independence" soon wore off, and his father's message of pan-Africanism increasingly became overlooked. "Countries became more jealous of national sovereignty," he adds. "The main goal of the ruling cliques - many of which were military - was to preserve and concentrate power...

the seeds of the problems we now associate with the continent - poverty, corruption, the breakdown of public services - were sown in those times." Military revolt The leaders of the 1966 military coup against Nkrumah, who had made the country a one-party state and declared himself a Life President, had hoped they could sort out the country's tottering economy. But once Nkrumah was gone, Ghana's troubles continued to get worse. There was hardly any electricity, failures all the time, no water. The situation was so volatile it was like lighting a match Former Ghana president Jerry Rawlings Eventually, in 1979, a military revolt of a dozen junior officers against their seniors, who they perceived as arrogant and corrupt, brought 32-year-old Jerry John Rawlings came to power. Rawlings' newly-formed Armed Forces Revolutionary Council executed eight senior officers, including three former heads of state. Neither a politician nor an intellectual - he was a flight lieutenant in the Ghana Air Force - Rawlings believed he knew what the country needed. "In effect, 1979 was a reaction to the cumulative events that had been happening in the country," he says.

"There was hardly any electricity, failures all the time, no water. The situation was so volatile it was like lighting a match." He says the executions were necessary. "I'm taking responsibility for it all," he says. "There was no alternative. We had to contain it within the military so it didn't spill into the civil front - if it had it would have been terrible. "We had no choice but to sacrifice the most senior ones - the commanders." Coups and violence Despite Rawlings' acceptance of responsibility for these and subsequent executions, he has never been tried in a court. And the current 1992 constitution - written during his time as head of state - also contains a clause which prevents anyone being charged for executions which took place under military regimes. Cocoa farmer William Korampong says life is a desperate struggle In 1979, Rawlings handed over power to the elected President Dr Hilla Limann - but by 1981 he was seizing it again in another coup. He instigated what he called "participatory democracy" - a people's revolution - which would keep him in power for two decades.

And he also presided over periods of violence, human rights abuse and disappearances - over 200 people disappeared in the early 1980s, all suspected opponents of Rawlings' regime. In 1982 there was another attempted coup, which, Rawlings claimed, was funded by Kwame Pianim, who was imprisoned for 10 years. A country that Nkrumah had envisioned would lead Africa in optimism and change had descended into coups and violence. "There were times when I openly shed tears for the suffering of my own people," says Charles Palmer-Buckle, the Catholic Archbishop of Accra who sat on Ghana's Truth and Reconciliation Commission for two years. "It was eye-opening, because I never believed that certain types of atrocities did take place in this country." When he became the country's first president, Kwame Nkrumah had attempted to keep a lid on Ghana's divisions by minimising them. Being African, he said, was not about being tribal. But his focus on the "total liberation of Africa" meant he sometimes ignored problems at home. The economy in particular suffered as Nkrumah failed to look beyond timber to keep it in health.

And when Rawlings was in charge, the economy hit rock bottom. The period is called the "Rawlings necklace" after the way starved Ghanaians' collarbones became visible. 'Dreams of people' To this day, Ghana's economy still limps along, and a third of our people live on less than a dollar a day. We were once rich in timber, diamonds and gold and the world's top exporter of cocoa. Not today. President John Kufuor is generally considered a stable force "Cocoa is seasonal so we have long periods of poverty," says cocoa farmer William Korampong. "After paying my debts there is no money to send the children to school or pay for food. Get the government to process cocoa here and not abroad - then there would be more money in our pockets." Fifty years after independence, it is now that Ghanaian - and African - renewal must begin. Ghana's head of state in this jubilee year is John Kufuor - generally considered a stable force. He says Ghana has not achieved the dreams of 1957. "Perhaps it is an endless journey to pursue the dreams of people," he explains. "The objective with which we entered independence was to become viable and prosperous.

"But since independence we've had a chequered history... it has taken us a while to come back to the original aspirations. "We have moved along the track a small way but we have a long way to go." And his words are echoed by Nkrumah's son Gamal, who says that it is not only Ghana's battle that continues, but Africa's. "Pan-Africanism never took off as such, but that does not mean it is too late for it to take off," he says. "Because part of Kwame Nkrumah's popularity today is his call for pan-Africanism, people instinctively know it is the only way forward for the continent." Part Two of Ghana, Winds Of Change is broadcast on BBC World Service on Monday 5 March at 0930 GMT.

Question: In 1979 Jerry Rawlings led the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council which took control of which African country/
Answer: Ghana