Former President Jerry John Rawlings during a public lecture at the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA) was described as a gentle giant after delivering his speech but the former President immediately interrupted the MC saying he isn’t a gentle giant so shouldn’t be called so.

He claimed former President John Agyekum Kufuor should rather be referred to as the gentle giant because that’s what he’s known for and called by many.

JJ Rawlings, who got shocked by the words of the MC quickly interrupted saying “wait, who was he talking about? ........But Kufuor is the one referred to as the gentle giant. .....Yes but he’s called the gentle giant, you are trying to praise me but gentle giant I don’t hear it”.

This filled the lecture hall with laughter as he justified his stance on the ‘gentle giant’ issue whilst the MC tried to defend his words.

Speaking at a programme held by the Friedrich-Ebert Stiftung Foundation in Accra Wednesday, August 16, JJ Rawlings spoke to the theme of the forum – ‘The Role of the Council of State: A Critical Assay’ – by calling for slight revisions to the constitutional provision on the composition of the Council of State.

He ended his lecture with an anecdote about late South African leader Nelson Mandela, narrating how the freedom fighter had to wait for a very long time in a “very rich” country for financial aid that never was.

According to him, when an emissary got to Mr Mandela, who had waited for long at a designated venue of that country’s airport, he told the South African anti-apartheid fighter that the car bringing the cash had involved in an accident.

“Is the money also injured?” Mr Rawlings quotes Madiba as asking the emissary in the face.