The Interview That Weirded Jerry Rawlings

Flt. Lt. Jerry John Rawlings was an aviator who remained with his passion to his last breath. The former Ghanaian leader took two of his appointment nominees on a flight to Akosombo, the impressive town in the Eastern region of Ghana.

Rawlings stunned the two gentlemen who were proposed for appointments in his government during the flight journey. He asked them who could take over from him as the pilot. What looked like a joke began to look very serious as Rawlings kept repeating the question.

Then he began a small lecture on how to fly a plane or a helicopter. His guests on the flight had to stretch their ears to the conversation as the cracking blades on the helicopter made his speech look like a mumbling from the cockpit.

Hard to hear him mid-flight but Rawlings explained to them the most difficult part of piloting a flight was how to take off from the ground and land. He further said, that keeping the flight in the air is not too difficult and explained to the would-be ministers of state how that could be done.



Against all expectations, Rawlings beckoned them to take control of the cockpit and pull the directional levers of the flight. Entering the cockpit one after the other, one made the flight go higher, and the other increased the speed of the flight, done under the scrutiny of Rawlings.

Rawlings took over and piloted to a safe landing in Akosombo. He told the two gentlemen that they had passed his interview for appointments to his government for they demonstrated courage. One became a minister of state, the other to the governorship of the central bank.

FLASHBACK: Late President Rawlings boarding an American military helicopter