Jerry Rawlings: I never let God do anything for me. I did it first

When the end comes for African dictators, some like Ben Ali of Tunisia pack their bags and flee to safe havens abroad. Others like Hosni Mubarak of Egypt endure house arrest.

Still, others are taken in by fellow dictators, like Mengistu Haile Mariam of Ethiopia has been hosted in Zimbabwe for over 20 years. Yet others enjoy a comfortable fugitive status such as Hissene Habre of Chad in Senegal. Those not so lucky like the self-proclaimed Emperor of Central Africa Jean Bedel Bokassa and Charles Taylor of Liberia stand trial.

Then there are those like former Nigerian strongman Olusegun Obasanjo who saw the light, relinquished power in time, and stayed home to enjoy retirement. Obasanjo was a career soldier before serving twice as his nation’s Head of State, once as a military ruler between February 1976 and October 1979, and again from May 1999 to May 2007 as elected President.

But there are few who have followed the trajectory of former Flight Lieutenant Jerry John Rawlings, who staged two successful military coups in Ghana, ruled as a strongman from December 1981 to 1992 and then bent to the winds of democratic change and was twice democratically elected President of the West African nation. He stepped down after two terms in 2001.

It would be difficult to find a more down-to-earth former African Head of State than Rawlings. Controversial and colourful, Rawlings was an inconsistent character.

His supporters insist he left a legacy of democracy in Ghana after ruling the country both undemocratically and democratically for 19 years. He ruled longer than any other leader since Ghana became a British colony in 1894.

But his detractors hold him responsible for creating instability through a military revolt in 1979. Rawlings was once the African Union High Representative to Somalia.

His work entailed mobilising support from Africa and the world to contribute more actively in the quest for peace, security and reconciliation in Somalia.

In an interview with the Nation during a past visit to Kenya, he talked about his youthful escapades, his love for drawing beautiful women. When he was eight, he said, he drew a portrait of the girl he loved.

The painting, digitally stored in his BlackBerry, won him the second prize in a school competition. Rawlings spoke fondly of his wife Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings and his four children – three girls and a boy. His son Dedan Kimathi Rawlings is named after the Kenyan freedom fighter.

The son of a Scottish father and a Ghanaian mother, Rawlings never liked protocol; he would stand to greet visitors and urge them to come closer. A rebel from a young age, he said in the interview that he was the only one at the elite Achimota Secondary School who supported a fellow student on disciplinary charges for believing in African spirits.

Rawlings trained as an air force pilot and won his wings and the coveted rank of flight lieutenant. But he chafed under the mismanagement and corruption he saw around him and was court-martialled for his role in a military revolt; a group of fellow junior army officers organised a prison break for him and declared him the leader of the June 4, 1979 uprising against the government.

A British newspaper headlined its coup story, ”Half-Scottish polo player takes over in Ghana”.

Rawlings became chairman of Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC) and ruled over a chaotic situation for three months, conducting what he termed at the time “a house cleaning exercise” that involved returning large sums of stolen funds to the government and controlling inflation.

He was acclaimed by youthful followers as Junior Jesus, a play on the initials of his first two names, Jerry John. Then he handed power over to the People’s National Party (PNP) led by Hilla Limann, who became president in a hastily arranged General Election.

True to the revolutionary adage that “the only work of a revolutionary is to cause a revolution”, two years later he was at it again.

Dissatisfied with the slow pace of reforms by President Limann’s government, he led another successful “people’s revolution” on the New Year’s eve of 1981. He and his fellow rebels set up the People’s National Defence Council (PNDC) and people’s defence committees at the grassroots that he said were structured in a way to ” give power to the people”.

The pillar of his rule was socialism, and most of his numerous advisers were uncompromisingly leftist although he himself never believed much in ideologies, rather in “seeking to build more schools, hospitals and roads,” as he told the Nation. “I don’t know any law, and I don’t understand economics, but I do know it when my stomach is empty,” he told the BBC when asked which ideology he used to govern.

As President, he used to mobilise his wife and senior government officials to join citizens in digging trenches, sinking boreholes, or constructing roads. His presidential motorcade would often give lifts to people on the road. He would cadge a cigarette from a man on the street, smoke half of it, and put the remainder behind his ear for later, identifying himself with the majority of smokers in his country who could not afford a full cigarette stick.

“I have always wanted to be equal with everyone,” he told the Nation during a past interview.

A man of the people, a lover of horses, he used to keep stables and a kraal in Akuse plains and always spent time with local herdsmen when he visited the area. Seeing himself as a man of the people, when he left the presidency he moved to another community and started helping residents fight weeds spreading over a local river.

He says he generally left policy making and other key economic decisions to the technocrats and intellectuals.

In 1992, Rawlings resigned from the military and drafted a liberal constitution after heavy criticism of his rule. He ran for president, and won the election. After two terms he handed over power to John Kufuor in 2001.

Rawlings was unsparing in his words about former Ghana President John Atta Mills, who was once his vice-president. He compared Atta Mills and his associates to dogs that have to be tamed, “greedy bastards” and “undisciplined” people.

During the interview with the Nation, he often referred to the “useless corrupt” people in government who had killed the dream of Ghana’s first President Kwame Nkrumah.

In a speech, Rawlings claimed that the Atta Mills’ government lacked the “revolutionary spirit to govern the country,” and went on to advise the president to “adopt his (Rawlings’) dynamic leadership style.” His dynamic leadership style was dubbed Jerry Rawlings Solution (JRS): Lead from the front, deal with enemies, and too much multiparty democracy is not good for Africa.

But Rawlings’ detractors remember him for what they term a Stalinist state that characterises his rule as nearly two decades of widespread executions, harassment, threats, banishments, deaths and abductions. Rawlings openly referred to the execution of many powerful military officers and members of the political elite shortly after he took over power.

He has never denied signing the orders to execute former military dictator Ignatius Kutu Acheamphong and five generals. He said the country was “baying for their blood”.

His hardline left-wing comrades accused him of “betraying the revolution” after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1989 that forced Rawlings to seek help from Western donors — the IMF and World Bank. Eventually, he became a sort of darling of the West and his administration got more than US$5 billion pumped into the Ghanaian economy, something that helped to improve standards of living and business growth.

Foreign direct investments also increased when he led the privatisation of several State enterprises.

He remained unapologetic about what happened during his years in office and conceded only a “few errors here and there.”

Close associates claimed that he was gifted with a sixth sense and an extra pair of nostrils, both of which have allowed him survive several attempts on his life.

He sailed through life on a sea of fire and never seemed in danger of being consumed by it.

But one time, a fire destroyed his government house which he had bitterly complained needed serious repair. He lost his entire archive to the flames.

When he was asked what he would like to be remembered for, he said: “My legacy to the people of Ghana and that I never let God do anything for me. I did it first.”