5 EVIL Things Ft. Lt. Jerry John Rawlings Did During His Three Stints As Head Of State

Murder (execution) Of Three Former Heads Of State And Other ‘Enemies Of The Revolution’

Jerry Rawlings is a unique force in Ghanaian politics in many ways, and he has to his credit many ‘records’ that are abhorrent to hold. Take for instance, the fact that he’s the only head of state to execute not one, not two, but three former heads of state of this country.
For a country with a rich history of coups, with each littered with its own unconscionable abuses and atrocities, Rawlings remains in a league of his own in that aspect. The blood spilled under his regimes pale in comparison to any one can think of.
In perhaps the bloodiest coup in our blood soaked history, Rawling’s cronies took power on June 4, 1979. They sprung the then imprisoned Rawlings out of jail and installed him head of the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC) – and the council commenced the brutal housecleaning that led to so many deaths.
Akwasi Amankwaa Afrifa, Ignatius Kutu Achaempong and FWK Akuffo were all previous leaders of Ghana. And even though they all took power via military coups, they were given hasty trials and summarily executed on charges of corruption. Whilst the three are guilty of numerous atrocities themselves, they weren’t given fair trials – and that kind of extra judicial actions became the norm for the remainder of the AFRC and the later, bloodier, reign of the Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC).