ABSTRACT
Jerry John Rawlings was a central figure in Ghana’s politics and economy for more than two decades, from 15 May 1979 – when he was arrested for leading an armed forces mutiny – until, as the constitution demands, he stood down as elected president on 7 January 2001. This chapter focuses on Jerry Rawlings’ personal, political, and economic legacies and, more generally, to draw conclusions about the ‘Rawlings era’ in Ghana. The main period of Rawlings’ of political significance in began in May 1979 and ended in January 2001. On 15 May 1979, Rawlings, then a 31-year-old flight lieutenant, led a group of junior army officers in a mutiny against the Supreme Military Council government of General F.K. Akuffo. On 4 June, he was released from prison by a group of junior military officers, who seized power, established the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council and presided over a brief, chaotic period of ‘housecleaning’.
