I often tried to come to terms with who Rawlings was - Palmer-Buckle

The Metropolitan Archbishop of Cape Coast, Charles Palmer-Buckle, has reflected on the personality of the late former president, Flt. Lt. Jerry John Rawlings, wondering what kind of personality he was; loved and hated almost in equal proportions.

Delivering the sermon at the requiem mass organized in memory of the former president, the Catholic Priest urged all to thank God for the life of the late statesman, who lived for 73 years.

“Now, reflecting on the life of this mystery called Jerry, I must confess that I often tried hard to come to terms with who he was, and what made him that singular of a personality: loved by very many and disliked, or even hated by others too,” he explained.

He stressed further that the death of President Rawlings should lead the country on a dawn of newness and great reflection.

“There is a key to the very mystery to the human life which only God knows and which only God keeps to himself. Let us continue to thank God even for Jerry’s 73 years of life and for making our paths of life cross, for God in His eternal wisdom, gave us the grace to meet and to live with Jerry John Rawlings. For all that he was, let us never forget that it was God, in His unfathomable wisdom, gave this man as a husband, as a father, as a friend, as a Head of State, a president of Ghana, and all that he was,” he said.

That said, he added that regardless of how people feel about him, the fact remains that the late Flt. Lt. Jerry Rawlings was a tower of Ghana’s history.

“But the truth is that the annals of Ghana can never be written without mentioning Flt Lt Jerry John Rawlings; a name that became synonymous with Ghana’s history from May 15, 1979, through June 4, 1979, through December 31, 1981, to the 12th of November, 2020,” he stressed.

Archbishop Charles Palmer-Buckle delivered the sermon for the service in memory of Flt. Lt. Jerry John Rawlings, who died on Thursday, November 12, 2020, at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital.