Mr. Yankah [L] exchanging pleasantries with Mr. RawlingsThe Trial of JJ Rawlings[/caption]Former President Jerry John Rawlings has commended Kojo Yankah, author of the book, The Trial of JJ Rawlings, for the role he has played to help pin down some very basic facts about events that led to May 15 and June 4, 1979 uprisings.
He said Yankah’s book had helped to confront the negative effects the efforts of some governments, institutions and personalities had made to degrade and misrepresent a very important part of Ghana’s history, “to the point of even sneaking some of the disinformation into school textbooks”.
Responding to an invitation by the leadership of the National Theatre to the launch of the second edition of the book and a theatre production on December 31, 2018, the former President and architect of the May 15 and June 4 landmark uprisings bemoaned the ease with which many can be so deceived by falsehoods and misrepresentations.
Volatile atmosphere
Mr. Rawlings added that the atmosphere on May 15, 1979 was so volatile he had to create an abortive situation, because had the move succeeded that day, the country would have exploded.
Giving a synopsis of the play, Mr. Yankah who was part of the delegation that called on Flt Lt Rawlings last Tuesday said, the uprising of May 15 and June 4 was not just about junior officers of the Armed Forces, but also symbolized the mood of ordinary people that were in Ghana at that time.Yankah, a former Editor of the Graphic, and later Minister of State, said sometimes a lot of issues are taken for granted and most people do not know what the situation in Ghana was in 1979 when “we were preparing for elections and it appeared elections were going to solve all our problems, with the same kind of canker that we had been upholding all those years.
