Rawlings did not die as a happy man – Son of executed Cpl Giwa

The son of a soldier who was murdered in 1984 under the ear of Flt. Lt. Jerry John Rawlings for his attempt to over the Head of State a year earlier, has stated that at the time of his death, the former military ruler was not happy. Supporting his claim with how seemingly ‘powerless’ Rawlings was in his later years, Issah Mahama, the son of Corporal Carlos Halidu Giwa, said one of the ways he knows this is because the former statesman could not control his wife from setting up a separate political party from his. Asked by Otinoko TV in an interview, where he spoke about his father public for the first time in 38 years, whether he believed JJ Rawlings died a happy man, he replied: “No, no. Look at his ending. Rawlings didn’t die as a happy man. He became a public ridicule, closer to his death. The powers he was having around him, thinking that it will be with him till he dies, look at his ending… “Being the flagbearer of one of the largest political parties in this country and you’ve given the space to your wife to go and form her own party, at least, it will reduce your integrity, you would have breached your principle,” he said. Issah Giwa however stated that while he harboured a lot of hatred for Rawlings for a long time, it got to a time when he let go of it all, so much that he felt bad when the former president died. “For me, to be frank, anytime those days that I see Rawlings on TV, I only become pissed off. It’s a fact, if I see him on TV, I switch to another station. The day I heard of his demise, I felt bad because a time came and I allowed bygones to be bygones and I said peace must reign…” he added. Watch the full interview below: Watch the latest episode of People&Places on GhanaWeb TV below: Watch the latest episode of The Lowdown on GhanaWeb TV below: AE/FNOQ