Rawlings was an enigma -Mahama

 The presidential candidate of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), John Dramani Mahama, has described the late former President Jerry John Rawlings as someone who was a mysterious person.

According to him, despite his nature, there were those who liked him, even though some believed he was not a saint.

Speaking at a vigil held in his honour last Sunday in Accra, Mr Mahama indicated that like everyone else, Mr Rawlings was not perfect.

“…Flight Lieutenant Jerry [John] Rawlings has been an enigma all his life and no wonder his manner of departure of this world had to be sudden and totally unexpected. Like any leader, there were those who liked him and would lay down their lives for him. There are also unfortunately those who disliked him with a passion and this is already reflecting in his life-post-scripts being written by many authors,” he said.

Wearing a neatly ironed black shirt at the vigil, Mr Mahama observed that the demise of ‘his boss’ Jerry Rawlings has ended an era, adding that another era has begun.

“…This marks the end of an era; but it is the beginning of another era. The persona of Jerry Rawlings describes Ghana as the colossus. His impact on the current trajectory of the country has been immense and it is necessary for us to find the real balance to appraise his role as the founder of Ghana’s current democracy.”

He continued that Mr Rawlings’ “life was tumultuous. His life was filled with tragedy and triumph. Death is the ultimate leveler and we must use this occasion of his passing to bring healing to our nation.

“He was our comrade and we worked with him. I called him ‘boss’ and he called me ‘chief’. He was not perfect, neither are we perfect. We had our disagreements and we had our joyous moments of success.”

Explaining how he got to know of the unfortunate news, Mr Mahama said: “News of his death hit us like a thunderbolt. It was the kind of news that everyone can remember exactly what time, where you were or even what you were doing the time you heard the news. I was just arriving at the Obuasi area to begin the third day of our campaign tour of the Ashanti Region when the news was broken to me via a phone call. It was too shocking to be true. I made a few more calls to some close relatives to verify if the information I have had was true and alas our worst fears were confirmed.

“The last time I met him at his mother’s funeral and subsequently had a telephone interview with him after the funeral he sounded hale and hearty and didn’t appear anybody who was going anywhere anytime soon. I later heard he had been hospitalised when I was leaving for the Ashanti Region. A quick call to one of his aides re-assured me that he was taken a rest and being observed by his doctors after the stress and fatigue by the mother’s funeral.”

Mr Mahama touched on the selection of his running mate, saying that Mr Rawlings’ acceptance of Prof Naana Jane Opoku-Agyemang sealed his decision.

Also speaking at the event, the Minority Leader, Haruna Iddrisu referring to what he said was the enduring legacy said Jerry John Rawlings laid a good foundation which today others are copying, saying that they are liberal.

“He has made remarkable contributions to the social, political development of our country. I cannot conclude eulogizing Jerry John Rawlings but by quoting him that let his legacy see the NDC and John Mahama upholding his fundamental values of probity, justice and accountability.

The first daughter of the late Jerry John Rawlings, Zenator Rawlings, the General Secretary of the party, the Chairman of the party, Second Deputy Speaker of parliament, Alban Kingsford Sumana Bagbin, among others, took turns to speak at the vigil.

 

 

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