People & Places: Veteran journalist reveals why he fled Ghana during Rawlings’ 'second coming'

Jerry John Rawlings’ first attempt to rule Ghana was in 1979, which was through a coup d’état. After three months, he surrendered to a civilian government but came with full force again on December 31, 1981, in another coup, leading the Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC).

Veteran journalist, Cameron Duodu, who witnessed the first regime of Jerry John Rawlings, has disclosed why he left Ghana during the former president’s second coming in 1981.

Speaking with Partey Narh on GhanaWeb TV’s People & Places, Cameron Duodu said that Jerry John Rawlings was arrested when he took over power but was later released.

He said he was among the people who championed the call for Rawlings to surrender his government when he first came to power, which he did three months after he was released from jail.

“I heard of his first attempt on the 15th of May 1979. I came back on the 3rd of June 1979 and on the 4th of June, they released him from prison. What happened was that the junior officers and the other ranks were not happy with the rule of General Akuffo, who had overthrown General Acheampong. Rawlings was released from jail by the other ranks and the junior officers and they set up the AFR field.

"Some people tried to help them, including myself, because I had been a constituent assembly member and wanted them to hand over power as early as possible. They came and said they would hand over power in three months and I wanted them to do so. So, I helped them to try and stabilize that situation until the three months came. They did handover after three months and I respected Rawlings a lot for handing over,” he said.

The veteran journalist explained further that he was happy when Rawlings fulfilled his promise, but the flight lieutenant had a motive of returning to power.

And when he returned to political power, Cameron Duodu said some reporters and other outspoken people were forced to leave Ghana.

Cameron Duodu explained that he was a BBC correspondent at that time and he used to file international reports on news items that the Rawlings government suppressed from the public.

He described how he had to leave Ghana after this, in 1983, and eventually stayed away for 30 years.

“When he had handed over, the PNP that was elected to power began to suspect that he wanted to come back and they had a very silly setup called the Military Intelligence. Those people were not bright and they followed Rawlings, and his friends; they harassed him and he felt his life was in danger so he looked for help and came back again. This time, he wanted to stay. Those of us who always wanted to speak our minds and saw some things going wrong in our country, and we say so, had to leave the country and I was away for 30 years.

"My situation was a bit peculiar because by then, I had become a BBC correspondent in Accra and a lot was happening in the country that the government didn’t want the public to know. I was reporting these things which were being broadcast on the BBC. People could hear, and some didn’t like it,” he told the host.

Watch the full interview on GhanaWeb TV below:





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