Family life with my father was quite complicated – Zanetor shares fondest memories

Dr Zanetor Agyeman-Rawlings, daughter of late Jerry John Rawlings has shared her fondest memory of her late father who passed not long ago.

Rawlings passed away on Thursday, November 12, 2020, at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital after a short illness, aged 73.

According to Zanetor, family life with her late father was quite complicated due to her father’s work schedule as the head of state who operated from the Osu Castle.

“[Family life] was quite complicated sometimes. We didn’t live in the castle with him… Which meant we didn’t see him as often, but when we did there was always something he wanted to impact so much knowledge; teaching me and my siblings how to drive before our feet could even touch the gas pedal, teaching us how to drive the model plane, and to ride our bicycles,” Zanetor said during a roundtable discussion at a vigil held in honour of the late Jerry John Rawlings at the Air Force Officers Mess in Accra.

She added that her late father was “purpose-driven and every encounter with him needed to have some kind of meaning and outcome”.

“He helped us develop a real love for nature,” she added.

Zanetor Agyeman-Rawlings indicated that between her military father and civilian mother, her mother, Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings was the stricter disciplinarian.

“When she kind of run out of options on what to do, she’d say she’ll tell our father…if there is something that we wanted and my mother didn’t want to be the one to say no, she will tell you, “go and ask your father” and that means that the answer is no,” she explained.

Earlier on Sunday, a Catholic Requiem Mass was held at the Holy Spirit Cathedral for the late President of Ghana as part of a four-day state funeral.

The vigil at the Air Force Officers Mess was attended by the family of the late president, government officials, members of parliament, and other dignitaries, under strict COVID-19 protocol arrangements.

Flt. Lt. Jerry John Rawlings (Rtd.) left behind his wife the former first lady Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings and four children.