Why Jerry Rawlings Staged a Bloody Coup in 1979

On June 4, 1979, one Flight Lieutenant Jerry Rawlings was sprung from his sweltering jail cell to lead a coup by the other ranks of the Ghanaian army. This coup turned out to be a pacesetter event that reverberated throughout West Africa. This event, known as the June 4th Revolution in Ghana or June 4th Uprising was sparked when the then Supreme Military Council (SMC II) of General Fred Akuffo put flight-Lieutenant Jerry John Rawlings on public trial for attempting to overthrow the government on May 15th 1979…. The revolution itself and Rawlings' failed mutiny on 15 May, was a culmination of the turbulent period 1972 to 1979, which will definitely go down into history as the most traumatic, the most dramatic and the most tragic period in the history of Ghana. It was a period which saw events moving with the force of a hurricane, devastating and consuming everything in the way and leaving behind nothing but economic stagnation and bankruptcy and decadence and moral degeneration and decay. In this episode of African Biographics, we look at the story of the events pertaining to Ghana’s famous 4 June Revolution of 1979. Sources: REGIME FAILURE AND THE POLITICAL LEGITIMACY OF GOVERNMENTS IN GHANA: THE CASE OF THE ACHEAMPONG REGIME, 1972 - 1979 The Tragedy of Ignatius Acheampong: Visionary and Kleptocrat By Adeyinka Makinde, 2020 http://www.icwa.org/wp-content/upload... Rawlings and the 1979 revolt in Ghana, Jan Pieterse https://www.open.edu/openlearncreate/... https://africasacountry.com/2020/11/t... Music: Drums of the Deep by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/... Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-... Artist: http://incompetech.com/ Artifact - The Dark Contenent by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/... Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-... Artist: http://incompetech.com/ Arid Foothills - The Dark Contenent by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/... Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-... Artist: http://incompetech.com/ Cambodian Odyssey by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/... Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-... Artist: http://incompetech.com/ Heartbreaking Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/b... Kumasi Groove by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/... Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-... Artist: http://incompetech.com/ John Stockton Slow Drag by Chris Zabriskie is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/... Source: http://chriszabriskie.com/uvp/ Artist: http://chriszabriskie.com/ #Ghana #JerryRawlings