Jerry Rawlings

Jerry Rawlings served as the head of state of Ghana for almost 20 years. A military officer and aviator, Rawlings first came to power following a coup d’état in June 1979, before handing over power to a civilian government a few months later. This resulted in him leading another coup on the last day of 1981, overthrowing the elected government in the process. By late 1992 Rawlings had grudgingly agreed to hold multi-party elections, which he later won to become the elected President of Ghana in January 1993. He remained in power for two terms in office, before endorsing his Vice-President in the Ghana general election held in December 2000, with Rawling ending his presidential tenure on 7 January 2001.

Amongst the many military and honorary degrees bestowed on Rawlings, he was awarded with the Olympic Order in Gold in 2000. He was 73-years-old when he died in November 2020, with a state funeral taking place the following January.