the rawlings coup

Cynthia Manu
ESL 100
11 / 1 / 09
The Rawlings coup d'éta
My grandmother once said, “You can move through life, or you can become the driving force”. In 1979, there was a young man called Flight Lieutenant Jerry John Rawlings in Ghana. He was a solider in Ghana at that time. Therefore, He slowly became the driving force among the people in the army. Rawlings decided to become a president of the country. He and his other officers in the army attempted a coup, but they were unsuccessful, so they were imprisoned. One month later, other concerned military officers overthrew president Akuffo’s regime and released Rawlings and his cohorts from prison. He started taking president Akuffo’s officers member one by one to prison. This new government started taking the very rich people to prison because they were questioned, where such people got those money or such properties.
The Rawlins Empire failed on their promises. Rawlings said when he comes to power, he will make sure all the rich people and the poor ones will be the same. He wanted all the people at that time to be at the same level, but he did not do that in a proper way. They also said they will control prices, but he was unable to do that as well. They said they were going to control the smuggling in the country but they failed. When Rawlings came to power, he came with his own agenda. This government came purposely for their own needs. They did not come to help but to take away what the others has fought for in order for them to become rich instead.

This new regime had profound effects on my family. In fact, the government began to collect people’s property. When Rawlings came to power, he put fear in people. He said the government is a solider government, so the people in the country should do as they says, but anybody who refuses to do what government says, would be killed. The government started collecting people’s belonging such as money, cards, investments, stores, jobs and houses. They took away many people’s property including my family. Most of the people refused to give away some of their property, such as money and cars, so they burned them into ashes. His new regime had impart on my family. My family burned some of their property because they do not want to go to prison. All because the more this government takes away from you, this means they are going to go to prison. The more property one has means such person is more criminal, so that person has to go to prison.


The Rawlings’s kingdom brought hunger to my family. Due to that, it brought the movement of my family from city to village. My family has to move from city to a village in order to survive. They stayed in the village for some years, and then my mother said she was about to give up. Later my mother decided to move back to the city and never went back. Moreover, this also brought the separation between my mother and father. Because of the separation, my mother was away from my father, and that was the end of their marriage. That was how my mother and father divorced each other. My mother left my brothers and me with my father in the village. Later my father got married to another woman in order to take care of us. My mother also got married to another man. My mother and my stepfather finally came to this country. However, at this time, my brother Emmanuel and I are now living in this country with my mother while my father is at Ghana.