A former appointee of former President Jerry John Rawlings has said that the former president was a listening president when he was the leader of this country but was never ready to leave power.
According to Professor Kwamena Ahwoi, it took some great deal of convincing before the then head of state transited the country into a constitutional rule in 1992.
Mr Rawlings in a recent interview said he does not believe in a constitutional rule.
But Professor Ahwoi said “one thing about Rawlings was that he listens but I think because of his background as a military man even if he agrees with you, he will not tell you I agree with you.”
“He will create the impression that he is sticking to his position but the next day you will see that he comes around to your position, and I think that was good on his part”, he pointed out.
“From our dealings with him, he was not keen of letting go power. It was a great deal of convincing that we were able to transit into a constitutional rule”, Professor Ahwoi said.
“I always give credit to late Justice D F Annan, Kojo Tsikata. I think we should give him [Rawlings] credit for handing over power”, he stressed.
President Rawlings ruled Ghana for 20 years.
He spent 12 years as a military leader and eight years as a civilian leader under the fourth republic.