Ghana's democracy and Jerry John Rawlings' revolutionary populism

Coups and Jerry John Rawlings

The late Jerry John Rawlings of Ghana, one of Africa's most contentious leaders, began as a populist revolutionary. Later on, he mastered the multi-party liberal democracy he had fought to abolish as a means of gaining power. The question raised by Jeffrey Haynes is whether Rawlings' change of heart was motivated by genuine political transformation or by unscrupulous, self-serving behavior.

Ghana became the first nation in sub-Saharan Africa to achieve independence from British domination in 1957. Ghana had great aspirations at first under the charismatic leadership of Kwame Nkrumah, but by the 1960s it had descended into chaos with a collapsing economy, skyrocketing inflation, and a corrupt political system.

The democratic government was overthrown by the military in 1972, but Ghana's position only got worse. A young air force officer named Flight Lieutenant Jerry John Rawlings had had enough. He attempted an unsuccessful coup d'état in May 1979. Several weeks later, he was successful on his second attempt.

He was not in charge for very long. His military administration, the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council, quickly ceded power to a democratically elected civilian administration. But Rawlings let Hilla Limann know that he was keeping an eye on him and his administration. He would return if they didn't immediately make Ghanaians' lives better.

Limann was unable to change anything. On December 31, 1981, Rawlings staged another coup and regained control. He retained control for the following 20 years, first via the use of force and then through popular vote.

Rawlings declared he would use revolution to fundamentally restructure Ghana's political system. However, he was unsure of exactly how he would bring about change or what form the new revolutionary order would take.

He began by experimenting with tens of thousands of regional, autonomous Defense Committees established throughout Ghana. Most Ghanaians hated and mistrusted the Defense Committees because they were so polarizing. Rawlings was significantly reliant on military support to maintain power after failing to build the Defence Committees into revolutionary vehicles.

from multi-party democracy to revolutionary populism

Many Ghanaians were confused by Rawlings' alleged revolution and outraged by the Rawlings regime's use of force to stifle political dissent and boost the country's economy. Soldiers attempted to coerce market vendors into charging 'affordable' rates for their wares. People in the public were reluctant to come out in opposition to the abuses of the dictatorship and the absence of democracy. Political dissent was suppressed, resulting in a "culture of silence" throughout the nation.

The Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC), Rawlings' government, proved to be anything but temporary; it remained in power for ten years while remaining unpopular and unelected. The PNDC struggled to gain support from the general public for two main reasons: first, it lacked democratic accountability. Second, after 1983, the majority of "ordinary" Ghanaians experienced greater economic problems as a result of a "economic recovery programme" backed by the International Monetary Fund.

1993 saw the reintroduction of multi-party democracy after a referendum the previous year. The political system that Rawlings overturned in 1981 was overwhelmingly supported by the electorate. In order to maintain his position of authority, Rawlings ideologically changed from being a ferocious revolutionary to an astute politician. He accomplished this by persuading the majority of Ghanaians that he was a capable and powerful leader who would increase Ghana's security and prosperity. In elections that were largely free and fair, Rawlings was re-elected president in 1992 and 1996. After serving two four-year terms as president, he was required by the constitution to resign, which he did.

Ghana's multi-party democracy has flourished since Rawlings left office. According to the US National Intelligence Council, Ghana "emerged as one of Africa's most liberal and vibrant democracies, reclaiming a position of political leadership on the continent" after two decades of rule under Jerry Rawlings.In 2022, Freedom House classified Ghana as "free," one of only a few of Africa's 54 countries to receive this designation.

A vote against a revolution

The revolutionary populism of Rawlings did not take the form he had envisioned: a popular democracy with a pyramidal structure rising from the base and ending in a nationally elected people's parliament. Instead, the nation went back to the multi-party democracy that he so vehemently overthrew in 1981.

It's possible that Rawlings lacked the institutional and intellectual strength to create a workable popular democracy. The essence of his proposed political system was not made clear, and the majority of Ghanaians were unable to comprehend what he aimed to create. His hazy intention to create a new political order was no match for the internal and exterior opposition groups' resolve to bring back multi-party democracy. He did not know what they desired; they did.

According to reports, Rawlings died of covid-19 in November 2020, and his political legacy has divided Ghanaians. Some people view him as a despicable military dictator who oversaw a protracted period of serious political tyranny marked by the imprisonment and disappearance of opposition activists, extensive media suppression, and a "culture of silence."

Some people consider Rawlings to be a national hero. In terms of national esteem, he is second only to Ghana's first post-independence president, Kwame Nkrumah, and is generally known as "Junior Jesus" and "Papa Jerry." In the 1980s, Rawlings is widely recognized with saving the nation from economic collapse and with helping to restore democracy.

The Defense Committees have continued to be crucial for Ghana's democratic progress even if Rawlings was unable to implement his vision of popular or "true" democracy. A key link between Rawlings' unelected civilian-military administration in the 1980s and the succeeding liberal democracy was made by the Defence Committees and its successors, the Committees for the Defence of the Revolution (CDRs). They served as significant institutional pillars for Rawlings' political organization, the National Democratic Congress (NDC), which was founded in 1990 to compete in the presidential and parliamentary elections that Rawlings ultimately won.

In response, the anti-Rawlings opposition established the New Patriotic Party (NPP), a rival organization. When Rawlings resigned as president in January 2001, the NPP came to power. The NPP and NDC have held the reins of government alternately throughout the subsequent 20 years.

Ghana has democracy today.

Early 2024 will see the next presidential and parliamentary elections. Due to the struggling economy and the frequently blatant corruption within the ruling class, another power transition from the NPP to the NDC is anticipated.

Many Ghanaians now would concur with Rawlings' observations from almost 40 years ago: popularly elected regimes in Ghana are most notable for the economic failures and corruption of their elected leaders.

In a 1984 interview, Rawlings claimed that Ghana's elected governments offer "no real opportunity for participation." People were reduced to bystanders as the politicians filled their own pockets while systematically destroying the social and economic fabric of the country by using the vote box to seize their power and provide them only a worthless option.

In other words, elites abuse Ghana's multiparty system for personal gain. Rawlings believed that a popular democracy would improve conditions for the vast majority of common people. In Ghana, he was unable to create a fresh, radical political structure. Ghana is still far far from having the representative government he desired, one that prioritizes the needs of the people.