Flight Lt. Jerry John Rawlings delivers a speech following the June 4 Uprising (1979)
In a bloody coup forcing the removal of the Supreme Military Council of Ghana, the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council was formed in Ghana in 1979. The SMC was headed by General Ignatius Kutu Acheampong and ruled Ghana as a military dictatorship from October 9, 1975 until June 4, 1979. As a result of the coup, General Acheampong and his four lieutenants were deemed corrupt by special courts and summarily executed. During this time, numerous supreme court justices, business leaders, and military officers were killed or disappeared.
General Ignatius Kutu Acheampong
The AFRC was headed by Flight Lieutenant Jerry John Rawlings. The events of June 4 were spearheaded after Rawlings and others were arrested on May 15, 1979 during a failed coup. While incarcerated, Rawlings and his associates were freed by non-commissioned officers who were inspired by the coup attempt. Special elections were scheduled and Dr. Hilla Limann was elected as the only president of Ghana's 3rd Republic. After two years in power, Limann was removed as president by Rawlings and the Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC). Rawlings was democratically elected as president of Ghana twelve years later and became the first president of Ghana's Fourth Republic.