An Independent presidential candidate for the 2016 and 2012 elections, Mr Jacob Osei Yeboah, has described former President Jerry John Rawlings as an epitome of transformation.

Paying a tribute to the late former President, Mr Yeboah said Mr Rawlings was able to flexibly adjust to the reality of what life brought his way.

“JJ shared his life with Ghana since 1979. Some hearts continue to bleed because of him, while other hearts continue to rejoice because of him. But the most important thing and meaningfulness of life is when shared with people to make the world a better place than when one first met it,” he stated.

Democracy

He said most people thought that Mr Rawlings did not believe in democracy.

“But studying him from afar with mostly Pan-Africanist mindset, JJ might have believed in a form of governance or a democracy that we as Ghanaians and Africans could have carved for ourselves,” he stated.

Mr Yeboah urged Ghanaian leaders to enhance the liberty principle mindset in Ghanaians so that even in death, liberty shall not perish.

JJ legacy

He said Mr Rawlings’s legacy that Ghanaians should uphold and espouse “should be the mantra of truly probity, accountability, transparency and social justice.”

“But a new dawn has begun for a new generation of leadership with total departure and much human development centred is horned.

“Let's explore a governance system that is akin to our self-understanding and self-realisation of who we are as Ghanaians,” he stated.

Mr Yeboah expressed his heartfelt condolences to widow, children and family.