Jerry John Rawlings prosecuted his cousin for shooting and killing a woman

The General Secretary of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) Asiedu Nketia aka General Mosquito has shared a story of how late former president Rawlings ordered for the prosecution of his own cousin.

According to the politician, one thing that JJ Rawlings despised was nepotism and made sure that all Ghanaians were treated equally irrespective of whoever the person was.

Making some revelation about the late former president, Asiedu Nketia told a story of when he(Rawlings) had to order for his own cousin to be prosecuted because he had shot and killed a woman.

“I remember clearly that during the early stages of the revolution era, there were shortages in the economy and things were very hard and even people had to queue to buy kenkey. So I remember one time at Osu, a lot of people had queued to buy kenkey and there were soldiers around to make sure that no one jumps the queue. Then one man who claimed to be the cousin of Mr Rawlings shot into the crowd,” he said.

He continued: “The man then shot one woman who later died. The man was immediately arrested and sent to court. And knowing Rawlings, the judge feared and so decided to not convict the man but set him free.”

But the NDC scribe disclosed that Mr Rawlings, who believed in social justice, made an appeal and ordered for his arrest again and he was re-tried and prosecuted, thus, suffering the consequences of his action.

To him, all these proved that though Mr Rawlings may not have been a perfect man, he knowingly did not condone wrongdoing, adding that he demonstrated leadership during his tenure as president of the nation.