“I just wished he could have lived longer” – Betty Mould-Iddrisu mourns Rawlings
If only wishes could come true, former President Jerry John Rawlings would still be alive, as a former Attorney-General pours out her heart of wishes.
A former Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Betty Mould-Iddrisu, said she “wished the former president could have lived much longer in order to see the ideals he himself has set for the country.”
READ: Former President Rawlings Is Dead
Mrs Mould-Iddrisu, who served in the Mills administration as Attorney General and later, Minister of Education, was the late President’s choice for the position of Vice-President when the late J.E.A Mills was hunting for a running mate in 2008.
The choice became John Dramani Mahama, the man leading the NDC into the 2020 elections.
Mrs Mould-Iddrisu described the late former president, who died on Thursday, as a very charismatic leader.
The Ghanaian lawyer and politician recounted how she met the former president and the kind of impact that encounter has had on her over the years.
It was in the prestigious Achimota School, where Rawlings got an O’ level certificate and also nursed his military ambitions.
“I knew him personally in 1965 when I entered form 1 in Achimota school. I think he was already in form 5. Immediately, I saw him, I asked myself, who is this guy.
“Back then he still stood out among his peers, seeing him in his cadet uniform and glasses. I found him over the years to be a leader and a disciplinarian,” she said on Joy FM’s current affair programme, News File.
Rawlings was Ghana’s longest-serving President since independence in 1957, taking office first as the leader of the short-lived Armed Forces Revolutionary Council from June 4, 1979, to September 24, 1979.
He bounced again on December 31, 1981, to overthrow Dr Hilla Limann, who he handed over power to in 1979. He would later transition into a democratic leader as he won the 1992 and 1996 Presidential elections.
After 2000, he joined the long list of Ghana’s statesmen.
It was a life controversy and charisma, one that Mrs Mould-Iddrisu said had positively changed Ghana’s destiny.
“I thank God for his life because he turned around the destiny of Ghana put the country back on track. He has made us the envy of Africa. I can say he is responsible for our democracy,” she said in an interview monitored by theghanareport.com.
She said her fondest memory of the late former President Rawlings was his passion.
Rawlings was an enthusiastic women right advocate, one that Mrs Mould-Iddrisu said pushed women to achieve greater heights.
“He had passion for gender, he supported, encouraged and mentored me as a woman,” she added.
Jerry John Rawlings died in the early hours of Thursday, November 12, 2020, at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital.
He died at the age of 73, leaving behind a wife, Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings and four children.
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