Rawlings tried to rid out corruption but he did not succeed – Vitus Azeem

An anti-corruption campaigner, Vitus Azeem has said that the late former President Jerry John Rawlings was a man who was very passionate about ending corruption in the country.

He, however, believes the people he worked with made it difficult for him to make that a reality.

In an interview with Samuel Eshun on the Happy Morning Show, Vitus explained: “I think he did his best to end corruption but unfortunately, some of his people did not perform as expected. Look at the 1979 revolution. At that time if you had two (2) houses, one will be seized. He had good ideas. He wanted the best for Ghana. Unfortunately, he did not succeed, especially when we got to the democratic dispensation.

In the civilian regime, some illegally accumulated wealth. It was watered down. The Auditor-General could not open up on what they had. So you could not even tell what they had before they got into politics. So when they have a big house, they can say they had a big house before they got into politics”.

He furthered that even in the present system, the death of the late former President will not have any impact on the fight against corruption.

According to him, even if the former President were to be alive, he will have little power to do anything about the corruption we see because he was not in power.

In 1979, Jerry John Rawlings came into power through a military coup as a 32-year old Air Force flight lieutenant, and then a second coupon Dec. 31 1981, and went on to rule for 20 years.

The second half of that rule (1993 to 2001) was under democratic governance which he helped to usher in. He founded the National Democratic Congress (NDC), a major party in Ghana, and modelled himself as opposed to corruption, and a voice for the poor.

Former President Jerry John Rawlings died on Thursday, November 12, 2020, after a short illness leaving behind a wife, former First Lady Konadu Agyemang Rawlings and four children.