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Many times, both in formal meetings and in public forums, President / President Rawlings spoke in parables. Many agitated listeners turn to me for clarification or meaning of what their “boss said.”
I smile at them. Others considered his thoughts confused and incoherent. From time to time, some thought it was “not normal.” Yet it was clear and solid and had a message to convey, albeit in subtle words.
I knew this because he would have mentioned or discussed the objectionable conduct or misconduct with me and others or asked me to take note of the event and remember it for future action, even eight months later.
That is part of the so-called enigma of the man who said what he thought without fear or favor towards all kinds of people. Keeping faith in your principles and beliefs. Once you appreciate and adhere to their ethical work principles, you can work with JJ for a century.
I run a measly 19 years with him one by one. He shared his desk and his thoughts with me in his Spartan office. I never regretted it. Yes, some mistakes, however, he served his people with truth and honesty.
Humble enough to admit his guilt. He sacrificed his family life for the national good. Hate it or love it. Certainly posterity will judge him more kindly.
One of Ghana’s greatest political icons and father of the stable and enduring 4th Republic of Ghana. A prominent African leader; a respectable voice on the world stage. “One of the rarest pearls that can be found on the beaches of Africa.”
The late former South African President Nelson Mandela of South Africa, on the occasion of Rawlings’ handover of power at the end of his constitutional term, described him as “The man who started out as the top dictator and ended up as the greatest democrat in Africa.”
President Jerry John Rawlings rests in silence. May the good Lord receive your soul.
1/25/2021
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Nana Ato Dadzie was PNDC Central Regional Secretary in 1983. Later, she was Special Assistant to PNDC President Jerry John Rawlings. He rose through the ranks to become Special Presidential Adviser in 1993. He was Chief of Staff in the Office of President Rawlings until his term ended on January 6, 2001.
