Biography of Rawlings; Real Name, Wife, Age, Kids, Education, Parents, Hardship, Achievements
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Jerry John Rawlings born Jerry RawlingsJohn on 22 June 1947 1is a former Ghanaian military leader and subsequent politician who ruled the country from 1981 to 2001 and also for a brief period in 1979 and the founder of the National Democratic Congress. He led a military junta until 1992, and then served two terms as the democratically elected President of Ghana.
Hometown, Parents
Jerry John Rawlings was born in June 1947 in Accra, Ghana, to Victoria Agbotui, an Ewefrom Dzelukope, Keta and James Ramsey John, a chemist from Castle Douglas in Kirkcudbrightshire, Scotland. James Ramsey John was married in England to someone else and his descendants now live in Newcastle and London.
Education
Rawlings attended Achimota School and a military academy at Teshie. Rawlings finished his secondary education at Achimota College in 1967. He joined the Ghana Air Force shortly afterwards; on his application, the military switched his surname John and his middle name Rawlings. In March 1968, he was posted to Takoradi, in Ghana's Western Region, to continue his studies. He graduated in January 1969, and was commissioned as a Pilot Officer, winning the coveted "Speed Bird Trophy" as the best cadet in flying the Su-7 ground attack supersonic jet aircraft as he was skilled in aerobatics.
He earned the rank of Flight Lieutenant and in April 1978. During his service with the Ghana Air Force, Rawlings perceived a deterioration in discipline and morale due to corruption in the Supreme Military Council (SMC). As promotion brought him into contact with the privileged classes and their social values, his view of the injustices in society hardened. He was thus regarded with some unease by the SMC. After the 1979 coup, he involved himself with the student community of the University of Ghana, where he developed a more leftist ideology through reading and discussion of social and political ideas.
Wife and Children
Rawlings is married to Nana Konadu Agyeman, who he met while at Achimota College. They have three daughters: Zanetor Rawlings, Yaa Asantewaa Rawlings, Amina Rawlings; and one son, Kimathi Rawlings.
Hardship and Presidency
Rawlings initially came to power in Ghana as a flight lieutenant of the Ghana Air Forcefollowing a coup d'état in 1979. Prior to that, he led an unsuccessful coup attempt against the ruling military government on 15 May 1979, just five weeks before scheduled democratic elections were due to take place. After initially handing power over to a civilian government, he took back control of the country on 31 December 1981 as the Chairman of the Provisional National Defence Council.
In 1992, Rawlings resigned from the military, founded the National Democratic Congress, and became the first President of the Fourth Republic. He was re-elected in 1996 for four more years. After two terms in office, the limit according to the Ghanaian Constitution, Rawlings endorsed his vice-president John Atta Mills as presidential candidate in 2000. He currently serves as the African Union envoy to Somalia.
Others
In November 2000, Rawlings was named the first International Year of Volunteers 2001 Eminent Person by UN Secretary-GeneralKofi Annan, attending various events and conferences to promote volunteerism. He established the constitution of 1988. In October 2010, Jerry John Rawlings was named African Union envoy to Somalia.
He has given lectures at universities, including Oxford University.[ Jerry John Rawlings has continued his heavy support for NDC. In July 2019 he went on a three day working trip to Burkina Faso in the capacity of Chairman of the Thomas Sankara Memorial Committee.
In September 2019, he paid a tribute on behalf of the president and people of Ghana, when he led a delegation to the funeral of Robert Mugabe, the late former president of Zimbabwe
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