Akufo-Addo, Bawumia suspend campaign to mourn Rawlings
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has announced the suspension of his political campaign for seven days to mourn the death of former President Jerry John Rawlings.
This was contained in a statement issued by the President following the announcement of the former president’s death.
President Akufo-Addo, in his statement, said: “I convey the deep sympathies of Government and the people Ghana to his wife, the former first lady, Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings, the children, and family of the late President, in these times.
“I have directed that all national flags should at half-mast for the next seven (7) days in all parts of the country, and have declared seven days of national mourning from Friday, 13 November to Friday, 20 November.
“In honour of the memory of former President Rawlings, the Vice-President and I have suspended our political campaigns for the same period.”
Former President Rawlings passed away Thursday morning at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital in Accra.
Mr Rawlings recently buried his mother, Madam Victoria Agbotui, who was 101 years old.
Mr Rawlings was 73 years old.
He was a former military leader, who subsequently became a civilian politician and led the country from 1981 to 2001 and also for a brief period in 1979.
He led a military junta until 1992, and then served two terms as the democratically-elected President of Ghana.
Rawlings initially came to power as a flight lieutenant of the Ghana Air Force following a coup d’etat in 1979.
Prior to that, he led an unsuccessful coup attempt against the ruling military government on 15 May 1979, just five weeks before scheduled democratic elections were due to take place.
After initially handing over power to a civilian government, he took back control of the country on 31 December 1981, as the Chairman of the Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC).
In 1992, Mr Rawlings resigned from the military, founded the National Democratic Congress (NDC), and became the first President of the Fourth Republic.
He was re-elected in 1996 for four more years.
After two terms in office, Mr Rawlings stepped aside and endorsed his vice-president, the late John Atta Evans Atta Mills, as a presidential candidate in 2000.
