Ghana: death of former president Jerry Rawlings at the age of 73

Former Ghanaian President Jerry Rawlings © Pruneau / Wikimedia Commons

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Jerry Rawlings had ruled Ghana for two decades from 1981 to 2001. He died Thursday morning in a hospital in Accra less than a month away from the 2020 presidential elections.

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With our correspondent in Accra

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Jerry Rawlings held office from 1981 to 2001, two decades in which he paradoxically marked Ghana's history.

Because if he became president following a coup, it was he who restored democratic freedoms in Ghana and made him the good student of West Africa.

Son of a Scottish father and a Ghanaian mother, Jerry Rawlings became a fighter pilot and quickly took an interest in politics.

In 1979, he organized the coup d'état which overthrew the regime of Fred Akuffo and ceded power to the civilian government of President Limann.

Elected in 1992 and 1996

But Jerry Rawlings is unhappy with the management of Limann, which he considers corrupt.

He also overthrows him in 1981 and in turn takes the reins of Ghana.

Very quickly, the former putschist converted to democracy and economic liberalism, in accordance with the wishes of the IMF.

In 1992, a new Constitution was adopted, the Fourth Republic was proclaimed and Rawlings was this time democratically elected.

The multiparty system is restored, as is the freedom of the press.

Rawlings was reelected in 1996. The Constitution forbidding him to stand for a third time, he made a peaceful and voluntary exit from the political scene during the election in December 2000. He passed the reins of the country on January 7, 2001 after almost 20 years in power.

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