Jerry John Rawlings: A Story Of Rags To Riches

Akua Bonsu



There he goes again. Until Ghanaians come to the realization that Rawlings
is the epitome of delusion, and of the most dramatic form of rags-to-riches
through thievery, I, Nana Akua, will not relent in my efforts to expose him.
Are we so blind as a people as to so much as tolerate a petty thief, and
armed robber, who decided that ‘if I cannot have what others have, I will
just take over the country and loot its coffers? To further insult us, he
continues to claim sainthood and condemn all others to evil deeds. RAWLINGS,
YOU ARE THE NATION’S NUMBER ONE THIEF, AND THE NUMBER ONE MURDERER. SO
PLEASE SPARE US YOUR NONESENSE!



Rawlings is a High School dropout. He was, and still is, a drug abuser. He
used the barrel of the gun to gain prominence where others use intellect and
perseverance. He stole airplane seats to decorate his living room. He was so
broke, he used to buy garri and beans on credit in order to eat. All these
are necessary to establish the fact that as at June 4, 1979, which is when
he gained national prominence by illegally overthrowing a government, he had
nothing in his name. his first pictures told a story of a starving, unshaven
soldier who probably had at best five sets of clothes.



Although is has now come to light that he wanted to stay in power, his
co-conspirators were all dead set against that notion so they eventually
handed over power to a democratically elected government. For the next two
years, Rawlings has no history of jobs, or business enterprises to record an
income stream for him. And the few months that they were in power as AFRC
was too short for them to have enriched themselves although we do not know
whether they did or not.



On the last day of 1981, Rawlings shot his way back to power again, this
time overthrowing the democratically elected government of Dr. Hilla Limann.
For the next 19 years, he would lord it over an entire nation so captivated
by a love affair with peace that few dared to remove him. Throughout this
19-year period, Rawlings masterminded the killings of hundreds of people
including three judges one of whom was pregnant. Add that body count to
those resulting from the state-sponsored execution back in 1979, and you
have enough blood on Rawlings’ hands to fill the lavish swimming pools he
has at his many mansions. Is this the saint who cries out for justice each
time he gets a microphone?



Back to that starving, unshaven soldier in 1979. That poor, wretched looking
man is now a millionaire. He owns at least four mansions that we know of.
His children were all educated in expensive private schools in Ireland, and
believe me, they did not earn scholarships. He owns three speedboats, a
fleet of racehorses, a fleet of bullet-proof vehicles, and a very healthy
bank accounts. At an official rate of $350 a month salary for most of his
presidency or leadership of PNDC, he could not have mathematically saved up
that kind of fortune. If “friends” paid the cost of his children’s education
while he was president, how is that different from bribery? If he has these
assets now, and he came into the presidency with nothing, does it take a
rocket scientist to figure out how the Rawlingses became so affluent? So why
are Ghanaians not holding him accountable? And for Heavens’ sake, why do
Ghanaians tolerate this menace when he calls others corrupt? Are we as a
nation so apathetic?



Rawlings symbolizes everything the NDC does. Say one thing, and do another
entirely different thing. Do something illegal, and turn around and accuse
others of doing it. For Ghanaians to sit by and allow such hypocrisy to
continue with impunity is a disgrace. I, for one, am extremely disappointed.
But all is not lost yet. One day sanity will prevail, and Rawlings would be
seen in his true colors. Until then, I will continue to remind Ghanaians
that this man is absolutely the worst thing to happen to Ghana, and we
should not continue to tolerate his nonsense.