Remembering Rawlings @77 / Transformational Leadership -By Richard Odusanya

Happy posthumous 77th birthday to the great African leader, PAPA J. Jerry John Rawlings, a Ghanaian Air force Officer, aviator and politician who led the country for a brief period in 1979, and again from 1981 to 2001. He led a military junta until 1992, and then served two terms as the democratically elected President of Ghana. Gone but not forgotten, Rawlings’ enduring legacy remains indelible on his 77th posthumous Birthday. As an African patriot, I call us to remember our wakanda warrior, JJR.

Rawlings is remembered for his efforts to combat corruption and promote social justice during his time in power. He pursued populist policies aimed at addressing poverty and inequality. Despite his military background, he was seen as a charismatic leader who maintained popular support among many Ghanaians, especially the poor and marginalized.

He founded the National Democratic Congress (NDC), one of Ghana’s major political parties, and remained influential within the party until his death, on 12th November, 2020. His death was met with an outpouring of tributes from across Ghana and the international community, highlighting his enduring impact on the country’s history and politics.

Overall, Jerry John Rawlings was a complex and polarizing figure in Ghanaian politics, revered by some as a champion of the poor and criticized by others for his authoritarian tendencies. His legacy continues to shape Ghana’s political landscape to this day.

JJ or “Junior Jesus” as many of our compatriots particularly the Ghanaians called him, was a true leader who provided direction, guidance, solution, and reassurance at very critical times.
Having observed and reflected deeply on the impact of this African, nay, global statesman, I found myself drawing certain salient conclusions:

Leadership and followership go hand-in-hand because a good leader has a unifying effect on his or her followers. Everyone is a leader, the dictionary defines a leader as someone who guides or directs others, this is true. Leaders are people who possess certain qualities that enable them direct others to perform a task or accomplish a purpose.

When we conduct ourselves, being just and equitable citizens, a worthy leader would naturally emerge from our midst. Now, there are instances whereby we have transformational leadership but lack transformable followers. And, there are also instances whereby we have transformable followers, but we do not have transformational leaders.

Furthermore, nations do not develop because they have natural resources. They develop because they have thinkers that show great concern about the well being of the community and mobilize the people to work hard for a better tomorrow. It is NOT the farmer making the cassava that becomes rich; rather, it is the restaurateur making ten times the cost of the cassava on each plate of food!

In conclusion, as a mark of respect for our wakanda warrior ‘JJR’ on his posthumous 77th birthday, I will conclude this article by saying that development is not about raw materials. It is about value addition. Any nation that does not add value will continue to go down. There are nations, having little oil deposits of their own, that have oil companies prospecting oil beyond their shores; there are also nations that have oil, and spend over sixty years collecting royalties without necessarily developing the requisite knowledge on how to mine the oil by itself!

Finally, I feel obligated to join millions of our compatriots at home and abroad to identify with our sister who may likely become the first Ghanaian female President, Zanetor Agyeman-Rawlings,  Ghanaian medical doctor, politician, activist and campaigner, who is the eldest daughter of Jerry J. Rawlings in celebrating JJR @77 posthumously.

Richard Odusanya
odusanyagold@gmail.com