Former President of Ghana, Jerry John Rawlings has revealed in a fresh interview why he superintended the killings of some prominent people in Ghana, including two former Heads of State.
Speaking to seasoned journalist Kwaku Sakyi Addo on the newly opened Asaase Radio, the former ruthless president who was also a soldier said most of the killings he ordered were done with a heavy heart, but he had no option because of the circumstances as he claimed they were highly corrupt which unavoidably affected the mass ordinary Ghanaians.
“It is not an easy decision to sign a death warrant, is it? Some but not all; I mean some of the obvious ones to do with…robbery and killing etc. I don’t hesitate with that”, he told Kwaku Sakyi-Addo.
“But at the same time, there is a time that I feel I’m going to execute a saint because of the possibility of regret they will be going through before they die. And I wish I could let them off, but if I do there will be a perpetuation of whatever cost”, he further added.
He went on thus: “A few too many people have been shot in cold by my brother Larry Gbevlo Lartey, for instance, my friend Squadron Kojo Lee; it was difficult to allow [execution] it, and I remember even when it was done, a lot of people thought I have helped him to escape, to leave the country… People didn’t believe he [Kojo Lee] was actually executed.”
“There was another gentleman who just kept killing people for rituals in his village. You can probably go and ask Victor Smith whether that man was a murderous character. He was the only one executed outside Accra; we had to execute him in his village,” Mr. Rawlings concluded.
