The first child of the late former president, Jerry Rawlings, Dr. Zanetor Agyeman-Rawlings, has narrated how their father instilled principles of minimalism in them.
She said that typical of the disciplinarian he was, he always questioned their love for stocking up their rooms and wardrobes with too many material things, including shoes, a training she currently still lives by.
“How could I forget the times, when we would hear the gates open as you drove into the residence and Yaa and I would run into our bedroom and try to conceal our shoes in the back of the wardrobe so we did not have to endure another lecture on why we had so many shoes, and how we only needed a couple for school and going to church,” she said.
She then remarked that those lessons reminded her of how the ministers who served under their father usually complained any time he lectured them on the accumulation of wealth.
“If only your ministers at the time knew what we were going through, they may not have taken your hard-line attitude on the accumulation of material wealth so personally!”
She concluded that part of her tribute to him by exclaiming, “It’s no wonder I still don’t have a big collection of shoes.”
This was contained in a tribute Dr. Zanetor read on behalf of her and her siblings for their late father, Jerry Rawlings, who died at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital on November 12, 2020, at the age of 73.
He was buried on Thursday, January 27, 2021, at the new Military Cemetery in Accra.
