Jerry John Rawlings, my house and classmate, passed away on November 12, 2020. He dominated Ghana politics for over 20 years, as Military Head of State, President, and founder of the 4th Republic. He was also a polarising figure and remains so in death.
The ruling New Patriotic Party, whose party was in opposition when he was President, are unsure whether to disown or claim him in death, although President Nana Akufo-Addo has ordered a 7-day period of mourning Former NDC president Mahama, however, has complained that his party is being prevented from mourning the father of their party and has led an independent vigil to mourn him. Both parties claim to have suspended their campaigns during this period of mourning, but many of the messages of condolence and eulogies surrounding his legacy are thinly veiled party political statements.
Even in her grief, his widow, Nana Konadu, has to decide whether to continue with her bid to contest the election as a presidential candidate for her own party, the National Democratic Party, that broke away from the NDC.
But what exactly is the legacy that Ghanaians are fighting over and how is this legacy of any significance to the rest of Africa?
Rawlings burst onto the scene with his initial coup attempt on 15 May 1979, in response to what he considered the corruption and mismanagement of the ruling regime. Following the failure of the coup, he was put on trial and sentenced to death. He managed to escape custody and on 4 June had the opportunity to run the country for three months. It was clear,
however, that he had no plan beyond his fight against corruption. He returned to the political scene in 1981, with renewed vigour – and continued in office as Head of State and then President until 2001. His aim was to run a ‘more participative people’s government’ with accountability and probity at its heart.
His vision was well-intentioned, and his rhetoric helped convince the ordinary man that he had their best interests at heart. However, he ended up being the poster boy for the international economic agencies. They desperately needed a success story from Africa and imposed a harsh macroeconomic structural adjustment programme that stabilised the economy but failed to make Ghana the world-beater so many of us had hoped for.