Why Rawlings remained vocal after leaving office – Kofi Adams

Former president Jerry John Rawlings never thought of returning to active leadership after he stepped down in 2001.

He was, however, worried about how institutions he had built over his near two-decades in charge were being undermined by people in authority.

A one-time Rawlings aide and current MP for Buem, Kofi Adams, stressed that his boss was being celebrated for good reason and that Rawlings loved Ghana and Ghanaians. He spoke on Accra-based Joy FM.

“It never really run in his mind on coming back to active leadership roles, but he was very much worried that it looked like the sacrifices of the revolution and of his period were being clawed back.

“Don’t forget we have all been discussing and talking about how his decision not to tamper with the constitutional provision of a maximum of two terms of four years and his handing over after his two constitutional terms were over, has been celebrated.

“Why will he do that? He did so because he was very much convinced that he had built very solid institutions that can stand the test of time. That was the belief that he had,” Adams added.

According to him, for every time that the former president spoke on issues publicly, it was because he had the moral right so to do. He had served for so long and knew so much even after he left office and for that he had to speak up.

“Little did he know that he could encounter a situation where all these institutions could be manipulated by people in authority again, that he was very much unhappy about and to thought that he could not keep mute over such things and that he needed to speak out about it because if he didn’t, then who else will do?”

Rawlings had several public spats with his immediate predecessor John Agyekum Kufuor. It led to the withdrawal of his courtesies at a point. Even when his former vice president became president Rawlings expressed his misgivings of the Mills administration openly.

Many people saw it as a sign of his openness and militant nature. He remained founder of the opposition NDC even at a time his wife quit to form another party. His relations with the Akufo-Addo government markedly improved in recent years.