Norvanreports can reliable report that, former President Jerry John Rawlings has passed on.
Information reaching norvanreports indicate that he died in the early hours of Thursday morning November, 12, 2020 at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital.
He was admitted at the Cardio Centre of the Hospital.
About Jerry John Rawlings
He was born on June 22, 1947, to James Ramsey John, a Scottish chemist from Castle Douglas in Kirkcudbrightshire and Ghanaian mother, Victoria Agbotui.
He was the founder of the National Democratic Congress, the name Rawlings has now become a household name though not his real surname.
He was educated at Achimota College and the military academy at Teshie.
He was commissioned a Second Lieutenant in the Ghanaian Air Force in 1969 and became a flight lieutenant and expert pilot, skilled in aerobatics.
In June 1979, Mr Rawlings and other junior officers led a successful military coup with the purported aim of purging the military and public life of widespread corruption.
He and his Armed Forces Revolutionary Council ruled for 112 days, during which time former heads of state, Gen. Ignatius Kutu Acheampong and Lt. Gen. Frederick W.K. Akufo were tried and executed.
He was a former military leader and subsequent politician who ruled Ghana for a brief period in 1979 and from 1981 to 2001.
He led a military junta until 1992, and then served two terms as the democratically elected President of Ghana.
Rawlings refuses to have UDS named after him
Fomer President Rawlings in 1993, made a personal donation of $50,000 to the establishment of the University of Development Studies located in the Northern Regional Capital, Tamale.
He however, rejected Government’s request to have the University named after him in 2017.
Also, in November 2015, when the then Government of the day offered to name the Offshore Cape Three Points Floating, Production, Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessel after him, he turned down the offer as well.
Policies and reforms
Rawlings established the Economic Recovery Program (ERP) suggested by the World Bank and the IMF in 1982 due to the poor state of the economy after 18 months of attempting to govern it through administrative controls and mass mobilization.
The policies implemented caused a dramatic currency devaluation, the removal of price controls and social-service subsidies that favored farmers over urban workers, and privatization of some state-owned enterprises, and restraints on government spending.
Funding was provided by bilateral donors, reaching $800 million in 1987 and 1988, and $US900 million in 1989.
Between 1992 and 1996, Rawlings eased control over the judiciary and civil society, allowing a more independent Supreme Court and the publication of independent newspapers. Opposition parties operated outside of parliament and held rallies and press conferences.
Awards and Honours
In October 2013, he received a Honorary degree (Doctorate of Letters) from the University for Development Studies in northern Ghana.
This award recognised Rawlings’s contribution to the establishment of the University.
In 1993, he used his $50,000 Hunger Project cash prize as seed money to sponsor the establishment of the state-owned university (founded in May 1992), the first of its kind in the three northern regions.
He was also given the Global Champion for People’s Freedom award by the Mkiva Humanitarian Foundation.
