ACCRA, Jan 14 (Reuters) - President Jerry Rawlings of Ghana, in a gesture of reconciliation as he nears the end of his final term, has said sorry to those who suffered as a result of decisions he took during almost two decades in power.
Rawlings offered the apology on Thursday in his last address to parliament before he bows out at the end of the year.
``It is said that you cannot fry an egg or they say make an omelette without breaking an egg. We could not have achieved what we have without stepping on some toes,'' he told legislators, repeating earlier assurances that he would respect the two-term constitutional limit on the presidency.
``We could not have turned the country round, nor come this far, without some difficult, painful, unpalatable but necessary decisions,'' he said. ``In the process, we have offended some people. We have upset some people. We have hurt some people. To all such persons, I say we are sorry.''
Legislators from his National Democratic Congress (NDC) applauded enthusiastically. Members of the opposition listened impassively.
Rawlings seized power as a young air force officer in a 1979 coup that toppled General Frederick Akuffo's military regime. Denouncing corruption, his Armed Forces Revolutionary Council executed senior military officers and confiscated assets. Rawlings restored civilian rule later in the year.
Rawlings seized power for a second time in 1981, toppling elected civilian President Hilla Limann, whom he criticised as inept. Eleven years later, Rawlings's Provisional National Defence Council lifted a ban on party politics and he won a landslide victory in an election the opposition denounced as rigged.
His second elected, four-year term ends in December and the constitution forbids him from seeking re-election. Ghana holds elections in December to choose a new president and parliament.
Rawlings, cheered by his supporters and heckled by the opposition, said that he was leaving a legacy of vigilance, level-headedness and pragmatic economic policies for his vice-president, John Evans Atta Mills, or ``whoever my successor may be.''
