The death sentence handed Rawlings that never was realised because of civilian sympathy

After a failed coup d’état attempt in 1979, the young Airforce officer, Flt. Lt. Jerry john Rawlings, was arrested by the military, imprisoned, publicly court-martialed, and then sentenced to death.

It was supposed to be his punishment for trying to overthrow the government of General Frederick William "Fred" Kwasi Akuffo, the Head of State of Ghana, but a stronger force, emanating from the civilians, overruled the powers of the General Court Martial.

Described as a bloody usurping of the government of the Supreme Military Council, which deposed a democratically-elected government in October 1972, the young Jerry John Rawlings was sentenced to death.

However, in the narration of a veteran Ghanaian soldier, Robert Beckley 1, who served in the days of Flt. Lt. Jerry John Rawlings in the 1970s, it took the words of the late president to save himself from being executed.

According to the military veteran, Rawlings who was then being kept under scrutiny in maximum security, was also during the period, sent to and from court over the case.

During one of such court trials, Rawlings addressed the court and explained his reasons for the attempted coup.

Robert said that Rawlings gave his reasons for the attempted coup as something that was occasioned by the lack of supporting working tools for the soldiers.

“He said that he attempted to do this coup because when he turned up at the office, he found that half the vehicles in his regiment; never mind the others, had broken down and there were no spare parts… the planes were not safe to fly because they haven’t got the right things and (all kinds of legitimate excuses) this was all going out and he found that some of the boots the soldiers were wearing, some of the soles were worn," he said.

Continuing to recount his memory of things, Robert Beckley 1 explained that at the time, there was a lot of fear in the barracks and among the soldiers because of how highly they admired Rawlings.

He added that it was in those moments that Rawlings was broken out of jail, culminating into his successful attempt at the coup a second time, and on a later date.

“And everybody was confused because he was locked up and people had given up on hope … everyone thought he was going to die; there was no way out because he was in maximum security – they take him to court and they bring him back and before we know it, in the early hours of June 4th, a mighty explosion – that was when they blew off the maximum security gates to get him out,” he told YouTuber, Aaron Ayiih.

The death sentence that was handed him eventually became a point for civilian sympathy, leading to a military rule by the man who would later give Ghana it’s most-stable, democratic era.

You can also watch this episode of People & Places here:



Meanwhile, catch up on the concluding part of Francis Addai-Nimoh's interview on GhanaWeb TV below:



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