No one thought the ever vibrant and tenacious Ghanaian soldier who staged the 1979 and 1981 coups would ever kick the bucket. The death of the first President of the Fourth Republic of Ghana, His Excellency Jerry John Rawlings has shocked all and sundry. Undoubtedly, some are even in denial as they pour in more tributes to condole with the bereaved family.
His Excellency Jerry John Rawlings ruled the country from 1981 to 1992 as Chairman of the Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC) and from 1993 to 2000 as a democratically elected President under the National Democratic Congress umbrella. He died at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital in Accra after a purported short illness.
The father of three daughters and one son died at the age of 73.
A statement signed by a daughter of the former President, Dr Zanetor Rawlings, requested privacy “at this difficult moment” and gave an assurance that funeral arrangements would be announced in due course.
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo had declared seven days of national mourning, from today Friday, November 13, 2020, in memory of former President Rawlings.
The President has also directed that all national flags should fly at half-mast throughout the country for the next seven days. The flag at the Jubilee House has started flying at half-mast.
“In honour of the memory of former President Rawlings, the Vice-President and I have suspended our political campaigns for the same period,” he said.
President Akufo-Addo, who together with the Vice-President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, announced the suspension of their campaigns, also conveyed the deep condolences of the government and the people of Ghana to the wife of the late President and former First Lady, Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings, their children and the family “in these difficult times”.
The presidential candidate of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), former President John Dramani Mahama, has also suspended his six-day campaign tour of the Ashanti Region following the death of the founder of the party.
More soon…
