Ghanaians didn’t understand Rawlings – Nunoo-Mensah

Former Chief of Defence Staff of the Ghana Armed Forces, Brigadier-General Joseph Nunoo-Mensah, has explained that most people in the country did not understand the late former President, Jerry John Rawlings, as a human being and a leader of Ghana.

General Nunoo-Mensah said former President Rawlings wanted a change in Ghana, something he said most people did not understand about him as the head of state.

He made the observations in an interview on Onua FM’s Yen Sempa hosted by Nana Yaw Opare on Monday, January 25.

He was speaking on the final funeral rites of Rawlings who passed away on Thursday, November 12, 2020.

The funeral commenced on Sunday, January 24, with the burial taking place on Wednesday, January 27.

The former President died at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital in Accra.

General Nunoo-Mensah gave a sneak peek into the upbringing of the late president.

“Rawlings wasn’t born on the bed of roses. He wasn’t born with a silver spoon in his mouth so he had to struggle so we didn’t understand him well”, he said.

He explained Rawlings was one man who believed in change.

“He believed in making Ghana a better place because he had travelled to other places to see how developments were taking place and he thought that Ghana could do the same or better”, he said in Akan.

Mr. Nunoo-Mensah disclosed Rawlings was sad about the fact that he trusted people who did not reciprocate.

According to the ex-soldier, Rawlings is more popular for what he did as a democratic ruler than for what he did as a military ruler.

“As the longest-serving head of state in Ghana, for 19-years, he is more known in Ghana as the head of state than in the military because he did not spend much time in the military”, he said.