Talk:Jerry Rawlings

Criticism

Instead of waiting for correcting this article, why not delete it as it's obvious that it's only pure propaganda? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 188.217.239.104 (talk) 17:45, 3 February 2011 (UTC)

Why should the disappearance of over 300 Ghanaians during the reign of terror visited on Ghanaians by this son of Mr.James Ramsey John be excluded from his biography ? Why should he be portrayed on WIKIPEDIA as a saint when any discerning mind knows of his crimes against humanity which prompted him to smuggle the indemnity clauses into the 1992 constitution to save him from prosecution ?

Jato Julor Rawlings —Preceding unsigned comment added by 84.180.112.59 (talk) 08:53, 21 October 2010 (UTC)

"Jailed dissidents who plotted to overthrow regime. " This would happen in any country. How is this 'criticism'?

This article really needs to be cleaned up. It's incoherent in many places and completely disjointed in others. Also, there's repetitions all over. I am unsure of what the person was trying to say in some places so I would suggest someone who knows about the subject clean up the article.

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Far too positive about just another dictator, see e.g. "Achievements" vs. "Criticism". The headers alone are interesting, Criticism can be justified or not, is not necessarily objective whereas Achievements are.

Chris

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I don't suppose that we can mention that he was known to get stoned on maurijuana and go on national TV?

00:21, 25 October 2009 (UTC) —Preceding unsigned comment added by Noel Ellis (talk • contribs) Source: A Ghanian student in NZ circa 1984 (quoted 2nd hand)said: Rawlings is a very bad man much addicted to the ganja. Confirmed by other Ghanians I met in London 1986 and 1987, who said he was known to get stoned and go down to the TV studio "to talk to the nation about the economy". When I was in Ghana in 1988 locals said, "no, he doesn't do that any more". Noel Ellis (talk) 08:53, 25 August 2010 (UTC) --Noel Ellis (talk) 08:53, 25 August 2010 (UTC)

This article really needs cleaning up. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Amekomedo (talk • contribs) 19:26, 23 May 2010 (UTC)

Biased?

This whole thing looks like it was written by literate members of the Jerry Rawlings' fan club. It seems to completely ignore nearly every non-positive thing about this guy.

Bob

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I have edited the - even for me - glaring typo's, weasel words and POV in the 'Criticism'-section. I also have serious doubts if the previous editor has any sources to go with his impromptu expansion of that section, but I don't feel qualified to delete those points. maarten 08:50, 11 February 2006 (UTC)

Did another cleanup. Not much of an improvement in the course of a year, I'll try to add sourced material and remove unsourced claims. maarten 09:20, 29 January 2007 (UTC)

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It's not an encyclopedia entry. It's a personal discourse...

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I have edited some. Most were really from a fan from Rawlings. Sure he was responsible for the killing of all the Lawyers, judges and even making musicians and many govermental leaders to go in excile...

Tim ---

It's wiki. If you don't like and think you can improve, then EDIT the page and quit complaining. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 141.158.63.218 (talk) 15:54, 19 August 2010 (UTC)

I recall from news reports at the time that the Rawlings regime was regarded as particularly bloodthirsty and violent. This article doesn't imply any criticism of him at all!Royalcourtier (talk) 07:27, 16 January 2016 (UTC)

Flight Lieutenant

I've edited the initial use of Rawlings rank to its full form as it now does not require the reader to be familiar with air force rank abbreviations. However, it seems questionable as to whether it should be included in the opening line at all. By convention in the RAF, officers who retire in the rank of flight lieutenant cease to be entitled to use the rank as do all officers below the rank of squadron leader. It may be that the Ghana Air Force has not adopted this convention and googling "Jerry Rawlings" reveals that many sites use his rank title. Perhaps someone with authoratitive knowledge of Ghanaian military customs can help. Greenshed 16:48, 24 March 2006 (UTC)

I'd suggest keeping reference to Flight Lieutenant as Rawlings was known by that title. MLA 14:49, 16 August 2006 (UTC)

This article seems to be very opinionated.

This article sounds like it was written by rawlings himself. He was just another murderous dictator who jailed political opponents, and severely restricted the freedoms of press and speech. I know from first hand experience; I lived in Ghana under his regime. This guy is no angel. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.114.41.153 (talk) 14:13, 12 July 2008 (UTC)

Intent to delete

I intend to delete all the unsourced information in this article soon. Fair warning. ——Martin^phi ☎ Ψ Φ—— 03:14, 26 October 2008 (UTC)

Another quote

"He has enjoyed a love affair with the West who have overlooked his many flaws because he embraced democracy in the later part of his reign." This is clearly opinionated, and needs to be deleted.

i can't belive there is no independent body that can write a bio on rawlings. please reserve the opinionated stuff for your blog. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Africanmind (talk • contribs) 20:01, 13 January 2010 (UTC)

Cleanup

First, let me get this out of the way; though he is far from perfect, I admire Rawlings. That said, I was surprised at how poorly written this article was; furthermore, the "Achievements" section reads like a CV. I don't want to diminish his achievements, but I'd love to see this article developed into a clear and fair biography. I'm far from an expert on the recent history of Ghana, but I'd be willing to assist editors who are more well-versed in this area to develop this article. OhNoitsJamie ^Talk 01:12, 26 January 2010 (UTC)

A lot of work is still required. What does "(AFRC), under the Military Marshal of Rawlings" mean? The "much wider "house-cleaning exercise"" should be described. What does "the AFRC military allowed the governing of the People's National Party (PNP) under Hilla Limann" mean? Allowed elections?Royalcourtier (talk) 07:25, 16 January 2016 (UTC)

Not an expert, but this is clearly biased

Just the tone of this:

Mr Rawlings was not different from Idi Amin. He killed anybody who did not support him and his party. Rawlings murdered both Governmental Officials, Lawyers and Musicians. During the time of his power, Many Musicians, Lawyers, Journalist and Judges were in exile and uptil now not willing to return to Ghana. President Rawlings was not a patriotic person to his country, but one who needed power to rule as an ambition.

Says it all. Someone who knows about this man's biography/Ghanian politics needs to clean this up. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 131.111.233.212 (talk) 17:12, 23 April 2010 (UTC)

Nominated for attention

I've nominated the article for professional attention as although the intro is relatively factual and balanced, the bulk of the text is distinctly weaselish - both pro and against. Considering the controversy surrounding Rawlings, perhaps this article should be restricted edit-wise when it's been cleaned up

87.194.56.53 (talk) 19:31, 25 June 2010 (UTC)

Achievements section

I went ahead and removed that completely unsourced and perhaps bias section. Here it is for the record in case anyone comes up with sources: Phil5329 (talk) 19:17, 11 April 2011 (UTC)

Achievements as President

Achieved political and economic stability in a region rife with conflicts (for example Liberia, Côte d'Ivoire, Togo, Guinea Bissauand Sierra Leone).

Created 110 districts through non-partisan district level elections. Education, infrastructure developments and health care all devolved to the district level. Annual government subvention by law goes to the district — unthinkable in many other African countries.

Absorbed over one million Ghanaians who were expelled from Nigeria. Housed them at El-Wak stadium in 1983 and then moved them to their family homes. Most other economies, including even advanced ones such as Germany saw their economies suffer when they reunified with integrated citizens (for example German reunification). Turned this crisis into a symbol of national unity.

Built the first memorials to Kwame Nkrumah and W.E.B. Du Bois.

Followed an independent foreign policy.

Returned Ghana to democratic rule in 1992, after a public referendum by a wide majority approved a new constitution.

Passed the value added tax (VATR of 10%) to secure government revenue base, which today funds most government public expenditures.

Passed the Ghana Educational Trust Fund (GET Fund) that is today educating millions of Ghanaians.

Became the first Ghanaian president in 20 years to be received on a state visit to the US.

Expanded electricity to Northern parts of Ghana - hitherto ignored by ruling elites since 1957.

Hosted both US President Bill Clinton and Queen Elizabeth II of Britain, who visited Ghana to highlight the successes of the country.

Through the NDC's agricultural program, 1994–2000, achieved recognition of Ghana's Food Production Index of 148% for 1995-1997 as "the third highest achievement in the record after Jordan (157%) and China (156%) in the World Bank's "1999-2000 Development Report."

NPOV "Atrocities" Section?

The section name doesn't seem very balanced. After all he's never been indicted for a crime and while he's clearly ordered extra-judicial killings, but he's always been open about the fact and did so for stated reasons. Calling, in African dictatorial terms, just over three hundred executions of officials suspected of corruption or who were deemed a threat to the state is pretty small beer? Equally there's no mention made of the anti-corruption reasoning behind it.. JamieHughes (talk) 22:43, 20 January 2015 (UTC)

I think the section does needs improving with regards to neutrality, as you rightly put it, he has never been found culpable of the executions in any court. What I don't agree is what you said just over three hundred executions of officials suspected of corruption or who were deemed a threat to the state is pretty small beer?.

—Sadat (Masssly)❤Talk☮C☺Email☯ 08:28, 21 January 2015 (UTC)

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Covid

Several African sources claim that the "short illness" that killed him was covid:

https://nairametrics.com/2020/11/12/former-ghanaian-president-jerry-rawlings-dies-from-covid-19-complications/ https://www.arise.tv/ghanas-president-pays-courtesy-visit-to-jerry-rawlings-wife/ https://taarifa.rw/former-president-of-ghana-jerry-rawlings-succumbs-to-covid-19/ https://ab-tc.com/confirmed-former-jerry-john-rawlings-died-of-covid-19/ https://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/tea/rest-of-africa/jerry-rawlings-ghana-former-president-dies-3020074 https://www.bbc.com/pidgin/world-54920769

I would say this is worth mentioning in the death section. --Pesqara (talk) 23:23, 21 November 2020 (UTC)

Cause of death is still a question mark, in my view. I do have question though: is it worth it to include some of the obituaries in the world press? and/or articles from academics? AbrewaAccraLady (talk) 17:17, 4 December 2020 (UTC)

Lede vs content

The lede presents him as a saint. The content suggests he was a murderous dictator who turned from (reportedly inefficient) populism to neoliberalism. (It is especially funny that the lede credits him with leading Ghana to democracy - omitting the fact that he was the one who had taken away Ghana's democracy by a coup in the first place, so the dictatorship he 'saved' Ghana from was his own.) There are reliable sources for the hagiographic assessments in the lede - I can only speculate about the motives of the authors and the editors - but given the facts presented in the article body, I would expect there to be other published assessments as well. 62.73.72.3 (talk) 21:21, 19 November 2024 (UTC)