Its not often that a guy who orchestrates a violent coup, seizes power, rules with a fist that could be malted in a steel factory and then repeats the same feat a few decades later, is described as having a “complicated legacy” or is even dearly loved by his former subjects.
And yet that is the legacy of Jerry Rawlings (henceforth “JJ”), president of Ghana from 1981 to 2001.
I won’t bore you with the details of how Rawlings grew up because let's face it, you probably don’t care. But before we get into the good stuff, we need to take a detour into a bit of Ghana’s history.
History
Ahh, Ghana.
Known for its spirited participation in the jollof rice wars, THAT penalty miss in the 2010 World Cup and being one of the 3 African countries that pan-African Americans talk about when they declare their intentions to “go back to the motherland”, Ghana was the first (black) African country to get the colonisers foot from under its neck and gain independence.
In 1957, Kwame Nkrumah became the country’s first President, cementing his status as an African icon. Sadly, Nkrumah was ousted in a coup in 1967, which unfortunately would become a fairly common occurrence in the years to come.
The man, the myth, the legend. Kwame Nkrumah in 1961. Image from Wikipedia.
Following Nkrumah's departure, the country was run into the ground by a series of incompetent presidents. Corruption was a pandemic. To the point where the whole nation was on edge.
Something was bound to happen.
How He Came To Power
It happened spectacularly on 15 May 1979 when junior military officers led by a debonair Air force lieutenant (spoiler: it was JJ) attempted to seize power from the Military Head of State, General Frederick William Kwasi Akufo.
A young JJ giving waxing lyrical about the pitfalls of capitalism or something. Despite the fact that this picture looks like an album cover for the year’s best reggae album, I’ll have you know that coups are serious business. Image courtesy of BBC.
The lads failed. But it was a decent enough effort.
JJ was promptly arrested, tried and found guilty of treason. But while he was awaiting his execution, several of his army buds channelled their Michael Scofield energy, broke into the prison, released him and ferried him to the government house.
The merry band proceeded to (successfully this time) take took over power and start a ferocious anti-corruption campaign.
First Term in Office...sort of
JJ wanted to send a clear message that graft of any kind would not be tolerated. But since this was well before Squid Game was a thing, he stuck to the tried and true method of publicly executing those accused of corruption. Three former Military Heads of State: Generals Afrifa, Ignatius Kutu Achaempong and Frederick William Kwasi Akuffo as well as eight corrupt politicians were sent to the firing squad.
The West didn’t exactly love this. If you’ve read enough of these pieces, you can guess why: as awful as many military governments were, they often helped protect Western interests. Unhappy with JJ’s extreme measures, the “international community” blacklisted him for a while. Even Nigeria got in on the act, refusing to sell crude oil to Ghana.
This is another picture of JJ. He had abs. This might actually help explain some of his behaviour...Image from GhanaWeb.
For his part, JJ was undeterred and promised to return the country to democratic governance after three months. And to be fair, he kept to his word, handing over power to Dr. Hilla Limann who had won the general election. JJ quietly returned to his military duty.
Or at least he tried to.
The problem was that even after resigning, JJ understandably remained quite popular. I mean, he had abs. And also, because you’re generally more likely to see an elephant paddleboarding in the middle of the Atlatinc than to witness a government official keeping their promises, the fact that JJ stepped down after promising to won him a lot of credibility.
Anyway, Limann grew jealous of all the love JJ was getting and kicked him out of the army.
And this probably gives you fair indication of what Limann was all about: an insecure and petty guy who had an over-inflated view of his abilities. Basically, a standard African president.
No surprise then that the levels of corruption in government soared to levels that made the previous regime look like they were Sha’carri Richardson in a 100m race: nothing compared to the people leading now. The economy tanked, prompting many Ghanaians to either leave for the “greener” pastures of Nigeria or languish in poverty at home.
Another Coup and JJ’s second stint
Lucky for Ghana, when it came to military takeovers, JJ was more clutch than Cristiano Ronaldo in the 90th + 3 minute of a Champions League game. Less than 2 years after Limann was elected Head of State, Rawlings organized yet another coup.
Here is yet another picture of JJ. At this point, we might need to enter into a discussion about the role pretty privilege played in his ascent to power. But thats a chat for another day. Image from GhanaWeb.
I mean by this time, mans was so good at this I’d wager Limann starting packing his things as soon as he saw the bumper of JJ’s car darken his driveway. JJ took over as President, threw Limann and his friends into jail and watched the sun set over a grateful nation.
Domestic Policies
The reality of trying to revive a broken economy was a bit less romantic though.
To be fair, JJ really tried. He put in place conservative economic policies like getting rid of subsidies and price controls, privatizing state-owned companies, and devaluing the currency in order to stimulate exports. You know, all that good stuff that organisations like the IMF are always harping on about.
While these free-market measures attracted foreign investors, the devaluation of the currency hurt Ghanaian industry. Local businesspeople were so pissed off, they gave JJ the nickname, “Junior Judas”. Which, all things considered, is fair play.
From Lieutenant to Statesman. JJ addresses a gathering at a wreath laying event in Accra. Image from Ghanalife.tumblr.
Still, the frustrations of the elite weren’t enough to quench the love the masses had for him. And besides, JJ did cool stuff like performing flying stunts for the people (remember he had been an army pilot). Plus, he brought American celebrities like Stevie Wonder to Ghana.
You can’t ask for too much more than that, really.
Well, except for things like freedom of speech and actual elections - which Ghana didn’t have during this time.
Again, to be fair, JJ established the National Commission on Democracy (NCD) shortly after the 1981 coup. This was essentially a Big Brother type of organisation that monitored civilian opinion and made recommendations to the big man himself. As dystopian as that sounds, it was the NCD that in 1991 advised that it was time to have presidential elections.
If your guess is that JJ won those elections, you’re absolutely right. It wasn’t even remotely close. Sure, JJ controlled the media, banned opposition parties for a while and then limited how much finance they could receive, gave civil servants a 60% pay rise the day before the election and allegedly rigged the vote in some places - but a win is a win.
JJ in 1989, a few years before the thoughts of democracy had entered his mind. Image from @ModernConflict on Twitter.
Second Term...or Third? Or First?
On 7 January 1993, JJ began his first term as an elected President. There was also a brand spanking new constitution to go along with it, which notably limited Presidents to just 2 terms in office.
JJ pretty much continued the policies he’d already begun: limiting government spending, privatisation and encouraging external funding. Politically, he softened a bit. JJ allowed a more independent Supreme Court and the publication of independent newspapers. Opposition parties were also allowed to hold rallies and press conferences.
And surprise surprise: these reforms didn’t hurt him at the ballot box.
He cruised through the 1996 elections, which were largely viewed as free and fair with the only problems being ink and paper shortages in some places.
Not quite MAGA, but it worked. Image from BBC.
How He “Lost” Power
JJ didn’t really “lose” power, so much as he handed it over. By 2001, after nearly 20 years at the helm, our boy was ready to retire. Besides, his terms were up. To his credit, he didn’t even try to get a third (or is it 5th) stint. Opposition leader, John Agyekum Kufuor, won the 2001 elections marking the first peaceful transition to an opposition party led government in Ghana’s history.
For his part, JJ kept busy after hanging up his sceptre. He delivered keynote speeches across the world at places like Oxford University, was named African envoy to Somalia and even led a delegation to Robert Mugabe’s funeral. The less said about that last one, the better.
On 12 November 2020, Jerry Rawlings died in an Accra hospital after a short illness. Rumours say that he contracted COVID-19 (which I hate, by the way) but that’s largely speculation. He was buried in late January 2021, in a state funeral worthy of the role he played in Ghana’s history.
JJ, shortly after retiring, in 2001. Image from Quartz Africa.
Legacy
So there you have it.
What do you think of JJ? And I guess more specifically, is benevolent dictatorship a thing?
On the one hand, many people view him as Ghana’s GOAT president. They argue that although his initial years were autocratic, he “made people fear the law” again. Consider also that he is one of few African leaders who, after his tenure, could (and did) safely walk the streets, talking, laughing and eating with the common man.
But then again, JJ did literally kill his enemies. Also are we just going to ignore the fact that this man “coup-ed” TWICE and pretty much ruled for the better part of a decade without a democratic mandate from the people he professed to be saving.
I just...I just don’t know, man.
If “complicated legacy” was a picture. But also, keep better friends Jerry! Images from BBC.
At best I’d say that JJ excelled at responding to the needs of people at each pivotal time. As such, he was able to recast himself from an aggressive, mean-spirited pilot to a wise, Father Christmas-like elder statesman. Which is pretty impressive.
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