Jonathan Meets Rawlings: Sues for Grassroots Administration
Posted 6,Mar. 2010
Jeremiah John Rawlings
Jeremiah John Rawlings
Former Ghanaian Presisdent

Acting President, Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan on Saturday, March 6, held a meeting with the former Ghanaian leader, Mr. Jeremiah John Rawlings in his Aguda residence in the Presidential Villa, Aso Rock in Abuja, the nation's capital city.

The meeting which lasted for about one hour was a courtesy call designed according to the former Ghanaian President; to commend the Acting President for the able manner he has been piloting the affairs of Nigeria in the absence of President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua.

Briefing journalist after the meeting, Mr. Rawlings said that he hopes the peace and stability Nigeria is enjoying will continue.

He said that Nigeria has gone past the kind of revolution Ghana had in his time and that what Nigeria needs now is to tap into its structures and democratic institutions to solve its problems.

Born on Wednesday, June 22, 1947 in Accra, Ghana formerly called Gold Coast, Mr. Rawlings was a former military ruler who ruled Ghana for a total of nearly 19 years. In the 1990s he began a process of political liberalization. He was twice the head of state of Ghana and was the 1st President of the Fourth Republic.

Mr. Rawlings retired from the Armed Forces, set up the National Democratic Congress [NDC] the party which Mr. Rawlings as its candidate, won 58.3 % votes in the 1992 elections which the opposition New Patriotic Party [NPP] claimed was a stolen verdict although international observers judged the elections "largely free and fair".

Mr. Rawlings won the 1996 election as well. After two terms in office, barred by the constitution from standing in any election, he endorsed his then Vice-President John Atta Mills as Presidential Candidate in 2000.

The NDC with Mr. Mills as candidate however lost the elections to the NPP Presidential Candidate in 2000, Mr. John Kufour.
Goodluck Jonathan
Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan
Acting President of Nigeria

Mr. Rawlings, who is married to Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings and has four children; three girls and a boy was in the country as a special guest to the meeting of the Pan-African Assembly of the United Cities and Local Governments, a global organisation holding in the Federal Capital Territory Abuja.

Acting President, Dr. Jonathan has stressed the need for local government administration to be strengthened, noting that strong structures at the grassroots impact significantly at the national level.

Dr. Jonathan stated this today when he received in audience a delegation of executives of the Commonwealth Local Governments' Forum led by the former Ghanaian President.

The Acting President and the Economic Community of West African States [ECOWAS] Chairman said: "The growth of a nation stems from growth at the grassroots. If we have good leaders at the local councils, then it is brought to bear on the national and continental levels."

Dr. Jonathan used the occasion to congratulate Ghana on its 52nd Independence Anniversary went on to say: "The fact that several African countries including Nigeria are celebrating the Golden Jubilee Anniversary of their independence this year is a call for African renaissance."

"As Africans, we have to leave our past behind us and move the continent forward," Dr. Jonathan stated.

Dr. Jonathan praised Mr. Rawlings for his leadership roles in Ghana and on the African continent, while urging him not to relent.

The joint recipient of the 1993 World Hunger Award, Mr. Rawlings , who is in Nigeria for the Pan-African Assembly of the United Cities and Local Governments, a global organization, congratulated Acting President, Dr. Jonathan on his assumption of office, saying he wish him the best and God's strength, and same for the people of Nigeria .