On May 15, 1979, a charismatic and outspoken junior officer in the Ghana Air Force, Flight Lieutenant Jerry John Rawlings, led an audacious but unsuccessful coup attempt against the Supreme Military Council (SMC) government, headed by General Frederick WK Akuffo.
The failed putsch marked a pivotal moment in Ghana's political history and set the stage for Rawlings' eventual rise to power.
The 1970s were a period of economic hardships and political instability in Ghana.
Successive military regimes, including the SMC, which had been in power since 1972, struggled to address rampant inflation, unemployment, and widespread corruption.
