12 Things You Should Know About Jerry Rawlings
Former president of Ghana, Jerry Rawlings is dead.
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His was a colourful life. Below are some of the things you should know about him:
1. Jerry John Rawlings was born on June 22, 1947, in Accra, Ghana.
2. After he finished from a military academy at Teshie, Jerry became a lieutenant in the Ghanaian air force in 1969.
3. Rawlings staged his first coup in Ghana on May 1, 1979. The coup failed. He was arrested, court-martialed and publicly sentenced to death.
4. He was part of the Free Africa movement, an underground group of military officers who wanted to unify Africa via coups.
5. On June 1, 1979, a group of soldiers sympathetic to his cause got him out of prison.
6. He led another coup, dethroning General Fred Akuffo and then Supreme Military Council. He set up the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council, which he was the chairman.
7. Flight Lieutenant Rawlings ruled for 115 days and oversaw the execution of military officers, former Ghanaian heads of state and others.
8. He handed over peacefully to an elected government on September 24, 1979.
9. On December 31, 1981, Rawlings staged another coup, ousting President Hilla Limann.
10. He resigned from the military in 1992 and contested to become a civilian president.
11. He served for two terms before endorsing his vice president, John Atta Mills for the presidency.
12. Rawlings was married to Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings, who was the first woman to run for the presidency in Ghana.
