Statecraft & Independence
Jerry John Rawlings
1947 – 2020
Ghana's longest-serving leader, who took power by coup and left by election
Why they are here
He held power for nineteen years, arriving twice by military coup and leaving in 2001 as a two-term elected president who handed over to the opposition — the transition that set Ghana's democratic record.
Rawlings first seized power in June 1979 as a junior air force officer, in a coup whose stated purpose was to purge corruption from the military and public life, and handed back to civilians that September. He took power again on 31 December 1981 and led a military government until 1993.
Economic liberalisation and privatisation under that government cost him much of his early popularity. He reintroduced a democratic constitution and won the 1993 election, then a second term, serving as elected president until January 2001. He later served as the African Union's envoy to Somalia.
His inclusion here reflects nineteen years at the centre of Ghanaian public life and the peaceful handover that ended them. The means by which he first took power, and the record of those military years, remain contested in Ghana.
Economic liberalisation and privatisation under that government cost him much of his early popularity. He reintroduced a democratic constitution and won the 1993 election, then a second term, serving as elected president until January 2001. He later served as the African Union's envoy to Somalia.
His inclusion here reflects nineteen years at the centre of Ghanaian public life and the peaceful handover that ended them. The means by which he first took power, and the record of those military years, remain contested in Ghana.
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