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Obituary Of J J Rawlings (1947-2020) - Part 3

Feature Article Obituary Of J J Rawlings 1947-2020 - Part 3
NOV 28, 2020 LISTEN

As soon as the Radio Ghana announcement by Rawlings ended, I began to call my contacts in the armed forces.

No-one had a clue about what was going on. What I later learnt was that when he finished the broadcast, Rawlings too himself to the bush and ended up in a patch of ground near Legon. He was obviously nervous about the way he had been sprung out of prison. How well -organised were the people who had rescued him? Were they going to be able to hold on to whatever military advantage they had secured or were they going to be rounded up – like Rawlings and his group were rounded up on 15 May?

It would be an understatement to say that there was a lot of confusion around, but it appears that some junior officers in the 5th Battalion joined hands with the Jet Squad and took control of the airport. For among officers I spoke to at the Air Force station was Captain Henry Smith, whom I knew through some Air Force friends.

Anyway, I eventually got a call to tell me that Rawlings was at the

5BN and that I should hurry there. I drove to the place and was taken to the Commanding Officer's office, where Rawlings had been installed and was holding court. He looked thin and exhausted and was nursing a wound on one of his hands, which was bandaged.

As soon as he saw me, his face brightened. He was dying to tell his story to someone, and he knew I would retell it well for him. H spoke to me for over three hours, as his soldier colleagues came and went.

It was, of course, the sort of story that makes for good novels. He had been incarcerated in the BNI cells near the Border Guard headquarters, and had resigned himself to being shot by firing squad.

Then, in the middle of the night, he had heard shouts in the BNI compound, and a lot of noise.

Next, somebody shouted:, “Jerry, get away from the door. He shouted “Okay!” and shots were fired at the lock of the cell.

The door opened.

Behind it were some other ranks.

They slapped him on the back.

You are free!” they said.

He thanked them. They quickly briefed him on their plan – they'd got some guys into Broadcasting House and they wanted him to go there with them and make an announcement that a group of soldiers had freed him and were taking over the Government. They wanted the other ranks to come together with the junior officers, purge the Supreme Military Council ( formed by senior officers) of corruption, and then hand over the government to a democratically-elected civilian government.

“I was like a man in a dream!” Rawlings told me. I did everything my rescuers said.

And then he gave them the slip!

Whilst Rawlings was in the bush, a group of young officers, including Captain Baah-Achamfuor, began running things. One or two of these officers were disappointed when Rawlings eventually showed up. “You should have seen the look on his face when he saw me!” Rawlings said, referring to one particular officer. Apparently, he was one of the officers who harboured the ambition of heading the new government whose creation was beginning to take shape.

The new would-be rulers did not have everything their own way. The army commander, Major-General Odartey-Wellington, had rounded up loyal troops and was able to go to Broadcasting House to broadcast an announcement that if the insurrectionists surrendered, they would be granted an amnesty from prosecution. Shortly after he made his announcement, he was cornered at the Nima police station and brutally shot to death – even though he indicated that he did not intend to offer any resistance. By nightfall of June 4 1979, the Chief of Defence Staff, Lieutenant-General Joshua Hamidu, had announced on the radio that there had been a ceasefire with the new revolutionary forces, and that the country and its armed forces were now in the hands of the new junta.

I published my interview with Rawlings in the 15 June 1979 issue of a weekly newspaper called The Statesman, that was being run by an old friend, Moses Danquah. It was one of the biggest scoops of my life, for no other journalist was able to get Rawlings to tell him or her the details of his story.

Needless to say, that edition of The Statesman sold out as soon as it hit the streets.

Eventually, an Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC) was formed by the junior officers and other ranks. The Council invited all the political parties that had been campaigning to take part in the general election that the SMC had promised, to a meeting in Burma Camp. Rawlings was introduced as the Chairman of the AFRC.

He shocked many of the politicians present – and the newsmen – by saying something completely unexpected; an expression of what appeared to be his personal beliefs! Something to the effect that “When I am happy, I want to spread it around; when I am in pain, I want to share it.”

What was the relevance of that, as far as the assembled politicians and journalists were concerned? It was a clear indication that Ghana was in for a very unorthodox type of leadership. Indeed, some of the people present concluded from this strange behaviour that Rawlings was “loopy”.

In fact, the only thing of substance that the press conference produced was a promise by Rawlings and his Council to hand over to a civilian government in three months – after a period of what they called “house-cleaning.”

Would they really hand over after only three months?

The country held its breath.

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