Former Ghanaian leader, Dr. Hilla Limann, photo credit: Ghana media
Rawlings might regret by now for doing many wrong things
during his rule. Firstly, executing the fathers of children he accused them of
corruption, while corruption at the moment is at its highest peak in Ghana, with
impunity and secondly, the overthrow of Hilla Limann, the former Ghanaian leader blamed for the harsh impact of the economy which Rawlings was partly
responsible.
Hilla Limann, who had started his career in diplomacy, had
never stopped participating in politics. Born December 12, 1934. In 1950,
he joined the People's Convention Party (CPP) of Kwame Nkrumah, the first
president of independent Ghana, overthrown in 1966.
In 1969, he was part of the commission responsible for
developing the country's civil constitution, before continuing his diplomatic career in Lomé and Geneva.
He had studied in England, notably at the
London School of Economics and considered himself the heir to Kwame Nkrumah,
father of Ghanaian independence and champion of Pan-Africanism.
Hilla Limann had been elected President of the Republic of
Ghana in 1979, a few months after the overthrow of General Frederick Akuffo, by
lieutenant, Jerry Rawlings. General Akuffo and other senior officers were
executed but the elections had taken place as planned and Jerry Rawlings returned
power to Hilla Limann.
Before the handover, Ghana’s economy was in its worst form
in decades. Everything was not only expensive but also hard to get. Common
toilet roll, sugar, milk, etc, are out of reach for the suffering Ghanaians
because commodities were hoarded for extra profit. Rawlings unleashes ruthless methods to bring out commodities for the general public.
So, when Limann became the president, Ghana was virtually empty. Cohesion within the PNP was nevertheless weak, partly
because it was composed of a deputation whose ideological orientations were
sometimes conflicting. These divisions aroused disagreement over national
policies.
In addition, the country's economic problems, which cause
concern, encourage the AFRC to keep a watchful eye on the government.
The Limann administration fails to put the economy back
on track. The impact was so severe that thousands of Ghanaians left the
country in search of greener pastures, with the highest population in Nigeria. Inflation
is rampant and the first budget tabled forecasts a large deficit.
The tension becomes untenable, both for the population and for the
military. December 31, 1981, that he considers responsible for this period
of regression. The Provisional National Defense Council suspends
the Constitution and eliminates political parties.
Rawlings says he wants to restore the human dignity of
Ghanaians, in particular by fighting corruption. He, therefore, overthrows
Hilla Limann, two years later, after a second coup and forced the man to live under
house arrest for two years.
The former Ghanaian leader, in power from September 1979 to
December 1981, died on January 23, 1998, after been hospitalized a few weeks
for a heart condition in an establishment in the country.
Taking the political life of Limann as a head of state and
the shortest period of his reign into consideration, it is likely that Hilla
Limann could be the only Ghanaian leader who wasn’t involved in corruption. He
didn’t amass any wealth and didn’t deposit any money at a foreign bank.
Bad things sometimes happen to good people, I strongly
believe that Hilla Limann was one of them. The way our leaders' names disappear
on the lips of many Ghanaians even shows that the political atmosphere in Ghana
is full of hate and tribalism.
Limann was one of the good Ghanaian leaders blamed wrongly
for a poor economy systematically abused for many years.
He is gone, resting
peacefully in his grave but his name will never disappear in the political history
of Ghana, as a man who loves his people but because of greed was not given the
opportunity to work.
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