Ghana’s former president, Jerry John Rawlings, has died at age 73.
The former president died on Thursday, November 12, 2020, at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital in Accra.
Rawlings, a flight lieutenant of the Ghana Air Force, came into public limelight after leading an unsuccessful coup attempt in May 1979.
A month later on June 4, 1979, Rawlings and other junior officers overthrew the military government of the day.
He formed the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC) to rule Ghana for a few months before handing over power to Dr Hilla Limann on 24 September 1979.
On December 31, 1981, he ousted Hilla Limann and created the Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC) which led the country until 1992.
He resigned from the military and created the National Democratic Congress (NDC) on whose ticket he contested in Ghana’s first democratic elections of the fourth republic in December 1992.
He won that election with 58.3% of valid votes cast.
He was re-elected in the 1996 elections and served until 2000 when his second four-year term came to an end.
