Veteran journalist Alhaji Haruna Attah on Friday night elicited a long round of applause at the National Theatre when he described former President Jerry John Rawlings as a great leader whose legacy includes the longest constitutional era in Ghana’s history.

The crowd’s enthusiastic reaction broke the suspense among a great number in the audience when Haruna took to the mic to introduce his brother-in-law and former President as one of the high-profile personalities at the high table.

Haruna Attah has had a stormy and often antagonistic relationship during the former President’s time in office as Head of State.

“I bashed him a lot when he was ruling the country, but it is time to let bygones be bygones,” Alhaji Haruna said, adding that the Fourth Republic is very much part of President Rawlings’ legacy.

Haruna Attah, who is also the Editor-in-Chief of the Accra Mail newspaper, praised the former President while serving as the Master of Ceremony at this year’s Annual Democratic Lecture organised by National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) in Accra.

This year’s lecture was also presented as part of the activities marking the 20th year of democratic consolidation in Ghana, and Haruna Attah indicated that the one man for whom credit was due for this achievement was former President Rawlings.

The former President was at the National Theatre at the invitation of the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu, the keynote speaker at the lecture, and the NCCE.

Haruna Attah, husband to Nana Yaa Agyeman, who is sister to Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings, also acknowledged and commended his sister-in-law, who was also at the function.

To beaming smiles from the former President, Alhaji Haruna said beyond being in-laws, both he and President Rawlings shared an admiration for Asante culture, an additional reason for their marrying Asante women.

The rapprochement between the in-laws marks a major shift in a relationship that has intrigued and baffled many politically interested Ghanaians from the late 1980s to the first decade of this century.

Later in an interview with The Finder, however, Alhaji Haruna explained that last Friday’s encounter was the second time he had publicly acknowledged the Rawlingses and asked for a new dispensation in their relationship.

The former President has reciprocated the gesture, Alhaji Haruna said and had cracked a joke at his expense after the lecture.

Indeed, last year at a wedding of Alhaji Haruna’s youngest daughter, Ramah Attah, Haruna offered his in-laws and former first couple an olive branch, to which Nana Konadu responded in characteristic fashion by dancing Azonto with Haruna during the wedding festivity.

Alhaji Haruna’s criticisms of the former President predated the Fourth Republican constitutional dispensation, but these were especially brought to the attention of most Ghanaians during the Alhaji’s period in office as The Statesman Editor.

All through that period he refused to acknowledge Flt-Lt. JJ Rawlings as President of the Republic of Ghana.