Ghana’s former President Jerry John Rawlings had an undoubtedly profound effect on politics back home. The impact cuts across the political divide even as critics point out excesses during his time in office.

His impact spanned the general lifespan of the decade before and long after he stepped down from office as a democratically elected leader.

Rawlings’ impact could, however, not be limited to Ghana or even to the West African sub-region. He impacted the continent at large in different ways – whiles in and outside of office.

He was buried on January 27 after a state funeral held at the Black Star Square in Accra. In this two-part series, Ghanaweb looks at Jerry Rawlings, the West African. The final part will look at him from the lens of a pan-African.

Zanetor speaks on her father’s continental footprints

“I think we all remember what happened in Liberia and Sierra Leone, the civil war that tore those two nations apart and Rwanda as well and even when it came to the independence of Namibia in the latter years, I think the late 90s as well.

“… There were a lot of things that he did, which he did not brag about but he took a keen interest in,” Zanetor told the BBC in an interview days before her father's burial.

Sierra Leone and Liberia interventions

When in the late 1990s a political crisis broke out in Sierra Leone, Rawlings was barely two years from leaving office. Whiles ensuring safety of Ghanaians he also took the lead in calling for the international community to act to stabilize the country as soon as practicable.

With respect to Liberia, the former president was instrumental in the initiation and implementation of the peace processes that eventually led to the end of the protracted civil war in Liberia. Ghana under Rawlings also hosted thousands of Liberian refugees during the period.

Rawlings again was instrumental in the establishment of the ECOWAS military intervention force in Liberia ECOMOG and also presided over the brokering of the Akosombo Accord and Accra Acceptance and Accession Agreement in December 1994 as well as the Abuja Agreement in August 1995.

“Ghana, Liberia and Africa will miss a great leader. Liberia remembers his immense contribution to the attainment and sustainment of peace during our dark days of our own history,” Liberia president George Weah wrote in his condolence message in November 2020.

It is no surprise that the two presidents that attended his January 27 funeral at the Black Star Square were George Manneh Weah and Julius Maada Bio of Liberia and Sierra Leone respectively.

A friend of Sankara and Burkina Faso

Rawlings’ close relations with neighbouring Burkina Faso was very well documented. The ties stretch as far back to the time of former President Thomas Sankara, the ex-Burkinabe leader.

His last engagement in Burkina Faso was in 2019 during the (re) unveiling of a statue of Thomas Sankara at the Conseil de l’Entente in Ouagadougou where Sankara and twelve of his colleagues were assassinated on 15 October 1987.

Till his passing, Rawlings was the Honorary Chairman of the Sankara Memorial Committee. His last message to the Burkinabe people was to work together towards the progressive future Sankara envisaged.

“Let us keep reminding ourselves that noble people have died for this country, not only in the fight for independence but also in the fight for true freedom and justice,” he said at the event.

“With his passing, Africa loses a Pan-Africanist and Ghana, a man of conviction, a patriot who has been able to put his country back on the path of growth and democracy. Burkina Faso has indeed lost an ally and sincere friend,” Burkinabe president Christian Roch Kabore said in a condolence tweet.

Togo, Guinea, Mali et al.

When the 2017 political crisis started in Togo, the then former president was among the first to call on the regional bloc ECOWAS to intervene and steer the country away from further chaos.

Leader of the Mali junta that deposed former president Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, Colonel Assimi Goita, also paid a courtesy call on Mr Rawlings when he visited Accra with a number of members.

At the height of the political crisis in Guinea, he also hosted a meeting with a former Prime Minister Cellou Darlein Diallo, and a leading opposition figures who called on him at his office in Accra. He tasked all political players to use all legal means in order to preserve the country’s democracy.

He also called on ECOWAS headed then by President Akufo-Addo to intervene in the political impasse.

Undoubtedly, Rawlings’ footprints on the sub-region remained solid long after he had served as President of ECOWAS and so much so that even out of office he continued to advocate peace and democracy.

President Akufo-Addo lauds Rawlings' continental footprint

Part of president Akufo-Addo's tribute on the former president's impact outside of Ghana described him as an 'African Nationalist.' The president said:

"His actions were not limited to Ghana only. The African nationalist that he was, he held unwavering positions on all matters concerning the wider continent of Africa, especially when they involved foreign interference and control of Africa’s destiny, and was quick to voice his views on them.

"His chairmanship of the ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government set the example, whereby virtually all his successors, John Agyekum Kufuor, John Dramani Mahama, and I, the 2nd, 4th and 5th Presidents, respectively, of the 4th Republic, have been honoured by their peers with the occupancy of that high office, reinforcing the pan-African vocation which has been an essential element of Ghanaian public policy since independence."