Former Ghanaian President , Flight Lieutenant Jerry John Rawlings, is dead.
He died on Thursday of complications from COVID-19, at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital in Accra.
He was a former Ghanaian military leader and, later, civilian President between 1981 to 2001.
Rawlings initially rose to power in Ghana as a flight lieutenant in the Ghana Air Force, following a coup détat in 1979.
After initially handing power over to a civilian government, he took control again in December 1981 as Head of State.
READ ALSO; Ghana Reopens Schools For Second Year Students,Others To Resume 2021
In 1992, Rawlings resigned from the military and became the first President of Ghana’s Fourth Republic.
He was re-elected in 1996 for four more years.
Rawlings left office in 2000 after exhausting Ghana’s constitutional term-limit of eight years for Presidents.
“Jerry Rawlings was an African giant,” former Vice-President, Atiku Abubakar said in a tribute shared on Twitter. “His tenure as leader of Ghana remains emblematic with the restoration of that country. Even after office, he stood tall for African unity and renaissance.”
Ex-Senate President, Bukola Saraki described the late Rawlings as a pan-Africanist.
“From his early days as a young revolutionary, to his later years as a renowned statesman and pan-Africanist, Jerry Rawlings always led from the front and matched his words with his actions,” Saraki said via Twitter
