Today, Ghana is laughing loud and thankful to God for using Jerry John Rawlings to emancipate the country. Love him or hate him, his place in history is surely guaranteed. Besides our first President, Dr Kwame Nkrumah, no political leader has had as much of an impact on Ghana as Jerry John Rawlings, whose legacy for Ghana, ironically, is one of the most peaceful and democratic dispensations on the African continent. The dislike for the ex-president is boxing many otherwise sensible people into a corner because they cannot bring themselves to see his achievements or agree with anything he says.

Jerry Rawlings was one of the few heads of states in Africa to have organized a free and fair election. Most African leaders who ruled or are ruling as long as Rawlings - Mobutu (Zaire), Siad Barre (Somalia), Mengistu Haile Mariam (Ethiopia), Mugabe (Zimbabwe), – left or will leave their country in chaos.…etc Most detractors,Gabby Ochere and his likes remember the bloody days when Rawlings' supporters killed their opponents, the days of witch-hunts against the middle class, the revolutionary days. For his last years in power Rawlings was elected to office and under his rule Ghana has developed into a peaceful, democratic country. Nobody can dispute the fact that atrocities were committed under Rawlings.

However, only a dim-witted will disagree that atrocities were committed under so called Great presidents/heads of state; E.g. Kwame Nkrumah (Ghana, Political persecution), Roosevelt (USA, Slavery, racial discrimination,Lynching), Churchill (Britain, Colonization, racial discrimination), Mahatma Gandhi (India, Caste murders, discrimination) etc For people who claim to believe in the rule of law and the principle of “innocent until proven guilty”, it’s hard for me to contemplate why all the hullabalo about this great man.

Long live Jerry Rawlings,Long live Ghana!!!!!!

Ibrahim Hardi 0208235615

Email,bigkolaaya@yahoo.com