The Perspective
Atlanta, Georgia
November 14, 2020

Clinton & Rawlings

Perennial and pervasive poverty in any African country calls for Pan African action to alleviate it because the source of the Poverty Pandemic is the Transnational Corporate Entity in alliance with State actors who benefit from the Poverty Pandemic, as seen in the poor getting poorer as the rich get richer ( see data from Reports of the United Nations, World Bank, and the International Monetary Fund). Essentially, it was within the context of the Struggle to alleviate poverty that we come to make this Tribute to honor the Memory of Former President Jerry John Rawlings of Ghana, who Passed Away this morning.

President Rawlings took over State rule in a coup d'état, then stepped down and ran successfully to be President through elections. Then he stepped down once again when his term was over. Such action surprised many people because President Rawlings had come from being a Flight Lieutenant and was considered to be for dictatorial rule. In the tradition of the late former President Thomas Sankara of Burkina Faso, he worked for democratic rule, although coming from the military. It is clear that we have in Africa examples of good people in the military, looking at the good works of the late President Rawlings and the late President Sankara, respectively, and examples of bad people in the military, looking at the work of the late Mobutu Sese Seko of the "Democratic" Republic of the Congo (DRC), who spearheaded the murder of another Champion of Pan Africanism, Patrice Lumumba of the DRC. It is not at all surprising that Rawlings became a Leader in the restoration of Sankara as a democratic leader in the DRC by unearthing his mortal remains and doing an honored reburial with an appropriate Monument.

The Movement for Justice in Africa (MOJA) remains in alliance with the work of President Rawlings to alleviate poverty, corruption, and injustice in Ghana and other parts of Africa. In terms of Liberia, President Rawlings was pivotal in arranging accommodations for Liberians who fled to Ghana on account of the Civil War in Liberia. Let us recall how the Buduburam Area was cleared up for Liberians to live in. Through working with Professor Akilagpa Sawyerr, former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ghana at Legon, and Professor Kwesi Botchwey, former Finance Minister of Ghana, both Lawyers and Pan Africanists, we knew President Rawlings and we worked together. Senator Conmany Wesseh of Liberia was a Pan Africanist Student Leader with the All African Student Council and he collaborated with the Council's members who were in the government of Ghana to establish the Buduburam Center, His Wife Medina, now Head of the Mano River Union Headquarters, worked closely with her Husband.

So, we come here today to celebrate the sustainable democratic institution-building work of resident Rawlings and not to mourn on account of his Passing Away.