RFI
Ghana: former president Jerry Rawlings buried with honors
In Ghana, the national funeral of Jerry Rawlings finally took place on Wednesday morning January 27 in the capital. The former president of Ghana, a great figure of Pan-Africanism, died on November 12. The country’s two main parties buried the hatchet for a tribute ceremony. With our correspondent in Accra, Marine Jeannin It is with music and great pomp that Ghana buried its former president this morning, who was receiving a state funeral after three days of national tributes. The funeral ceremony took place on the Independence Square of Accra, in the presence of high officials of the State and of the family of the deceased. Her daughter Amina moved the audience by declaiming a tribute written by her mother, Nana Agyeman-Rawlings. She shared the life of the former president for more than 43 years. “We believed in each other, and in our dreams of making Ghana a country we could all be proud of. I dare say we did not do a bad job. We were a team fighting to transform a failed state into one that offered hope for prosperity to all. You did your best, and I played my part my way. You always said that you don’t need titles to define yourself. So you remain Flying Officer Jerry John Rawlings. His daughter Zanetor Agyeman-Rawlings, a member of the party created by her father, the NDC, also greeted a strong man who ruled Ghana for nearly twenty years. “Your shoulders were strong, strong enough to support the weight weighing on them. You knew your goal, and you accomplished it. You never wavered. Courageous and daring in every way, you stayed true to the essence of who you were, until your last day. »► Read also: Death of Jerry Rawlings: the itinerary of a revolutionary captainAfter the ceremony which continued throughout the morning, Jerry Rawlings was buried in the military cemetery of Accra, in a coffin draped in the colors of Ghana. A fleeting political truce It has been three months since the two main parties in Ghana fought over the legacy of Jerry Rawlings. The opposition NDC party accused the presidential party NPP in particular of dispossessing them of their founder by organizing a state funeral. But for the funeral ceremony of Jerry Rawlings, the quarrels were silenced. The NDC spokesperson paid tribute to its founding father, who had created this party in 1992, with the advent of the multiparty system. “Our relationship with him spanned four decades. Its commitment to promote progress for all, especially the powerless, the voiceless, the marginalized, is unwavering. He hated the exploitation of ordinary people by those who are powerful and wealthy. President Nana Akufo-Addo described Jerry Rawlings as a “charismatic and fearless leader” as well as a caring mentor. “From my assumption of duty until his death, he remained a good friend and did not stop giving me sound advice. I knew that in the difficult times of my presidency I could count on his great experience and knowledge. In those moments, he knew how to help me. The truce is not expected to last between the presidential party and the NDC, which last month appealed to the Supreme Court against the re-election of Nana Akufo-Addo.
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