Prior to that, he led an unsuccessful coup attempt against the ruling military government on Tuesday, 15 May 1979, just five weeks before scheduled democratic elections were due to take place.

[8][9] After two terms in office, the limit according to the Ghanaian Constitution, Rawlings endorsed his vice-president John Atta Mills as a presidential candidate in 2000.

He graduated in January 1969, and was commissioned as a pilot officer, winning the coveted "Speed Bird Trophy" as the best cadet in flying the Su-7 ground attack supersonic jet aircraft as he was skilled in aerobatics.

During his service with the Ghana Air Force, Rawlings perceived a deterioration in discipline and morale due to corruption in the Supreme Military Council (SMC).

On Tuesday, 15 May 1979, five weeks prior to civilian elections, Rawlings and six other soldiers staged a coup against the government of General Fred Akuffo, but failed and were arrested by the military.

[23] Rawlings was publicly sentenced to death in a General Court Martial and imprisoned, although his statements on the social injustices that motivated his actions won him civilian sympathy.

[25][19] He and the AFRC ruled for 112 days and arranged the execution by firing squad of eight military officers, including Generals Kotei, Joy Amedume, Roger Felli, and Utuka, as well as the three former Ghanaian heads of state; Acheampong, Akuffo, and Akwasi Afrifa.

On Monday, 24 September 1979, power was peacefully handed over by Rawlings to President Hilla Limann, whose People's National Party (PNP) had the support of Nkrumah's followers.

[25] Two years later, on 31 December 1981 Rawlings ousted President Hilla Limann in a coup d'état, claiming that civilian rule was weak and the country's economy was deteriorating.

[27] Rawlings hosted state visits from "revolutionaries" from other countries, including Dési Bouterse (Suriname),[28] Daniel Ortega (Nicaragua), and Sam Nujoma (Namibia).

[29] More famously, Rawlings reversed Limann's boycott of Gaddafi's Libya, allowing the Black Stars to compete in the 1982 African Cup of Nations.

[27] Rawlings established the National Commission on Democracy (NCD) shortly after the 1982 coup, and employed it to survey civilian opinion and make recommendations that would facilitate the process of democratic transition.

In March 1991, the NCD released a report recommending the election of an executive president, the establishment of a national assembly, and the creation of the post of prime minister.

[27] These structures included the Committees for the Defence of the Revolution (CDRs), Commando Units, 31 December Women's Organization, the 4 June movement, Peoples Militias, and Mobisquads, and operated on a system of popular control through intimidation.

[33] Opposition parties objected to the election results, citing incidences of vote stuffing in regions where Rawlings was likely to lose and rural areas with scant populations, as well as a bloated voters' register and a partisan electoral commission.

[27][33] However, the Commonwealth Observer Group, led by Sir Ellis Clarke, approved of the election as "free and fair", as there were very few issues at polling stations and no major incidences of voter coercion.

[27] In contrast, the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) issued a report supporting claims that erroneous entries in voter registration could have affected election results.

[33] Opposition parties boycotted subsequent Ghana parliamentary and presidential elections, and the unicameral National Assembly, of which NDC officials won 189 of 200 seats and essentially established a one-party parliament that lacked legitimacy and only had limited legislative powers.

[35] Rawlings established the Economic Recovery Program (ERP) suggested by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund in 1982 due to the poor state of the economy after 18 months of attempting to govern it through administrative controls and mass mobilization.

[33] The policies implemented caused a dramatic currency devaluation, the removal of price controls, and social-service subsidies which favored farmers over urban workers, and privatization of some state-owned enterprises, and restraints on government spending.

[33] The emphasis on transparency led Ghanaian non-governmental organizations to create the Network of Domestic Election Observers (NEDEO), which trained nearly 4,100 local poll watchers.

On the day of the election, more than 60,000 candidate agents monitored close to all polling sites, and were responsible for directly reporting results to their respective party leaders.

[33] Despite some fears of electoral violence, the election was peaceful and had a 78% turnout rate, and was successful with only minor problems such as an inadequate supply of ink and parliamentary ballots.

[40] In November 2000, Rawlings was named the first International Year of Volunteers 2001 Eminent Person by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, attending various events and conferences to promote volunteerism.

[62][63] A requiem mass for Jerry Rawlings was held at the Holy Spirit Cathedral on 24 January 2021, followed by a vigil at the Air Force Officers' Mess in Accra later that evening.

On 27 January 2021, a state funeral, attended by national and international political leaders, paramount chiefs, diplomats and other dignitaries, was held at the Black Star Square before his burial service at the Military Cemetery at Burma Camp, with full military honours, including a slow march by the funeral cortège, a flypast of a Ghana Air Force helicopter, the sounding of the Last Post by army buglers and a 21-gun salute.

[69][70][71][72][73][74] President Nana Akufo-Addo proposed to the Governing Council of UDS to rename the institution after Jerry Rawlings, who used his US$50,000 Hunger Project prize as seed money to establish the university.