The younger sister of former President Akufo-Addo, Marigold Akufo-Addo, has said his brother and late Jerry John Rawlings controlled the streets with their charm before they became president.
Marigold Akufo-Addo highlighted that Jerry John Rawlings, in his youth, was already charismatic.
She drew triking parallel between a young Jerry John Rawlings and her brother, Nana Akufo-Addo charisma, crowds and a presence you couldn’t ignore.
Speaking with Kafui Dey, Marigold Akufo-Addo was asked if she could tell her big brother Akufo-Addo was going to be president one, she stated, “Yes and No, he had a great street following when he was little, there was something”
“I remember telling my father someday that JJ Rawlings, he used to come to GIS; I did not know he was not schooling there, he used to come and visit two young men who were there”.
Marigold Akufo-Addo added, “This young man will not even move from under the tree. Everybody will be calling him, Jerry John, Jerry John. If I call one of these characters who are now living in Korea somewhere, do you remember so and so? They might say no, but do you remember Jerry John? They will say yes.
So I told my father, and he said young children like that, you’ve got to take good care of them, what he said was that they are charismatic. He said young men who draw crowds like how Nana Addo was drawing and how Jerry was being spoken about, without you knowing him, you have to nurture them well”.
She added, “Even if they don’t sit on the seat per say they will be influencing a lot of people. So from that point of view, Nana Addo was already charismatic because he went to a boys’ school, my father’s car in those days, an Aston Martin or something, everybody knew it around the area, and they used to say it was Nana Addo’s car, he knew all the characters in the street.
Marigold Akufo-Addo further recounted that Nana Addo wanted to become a footballer, but he was not allowed.
She detailed, “ I remember one holiday, we came back, and he went to join Ohene Djan, he was in charge of all the footballers, young and old. They used to go to some small stadium for some reason, he was popular there; they called him Bob negro so he wanted to be a footballer at that time and they had to stop that because the footballers where not learning, if he were born today they would have allowed him but then it was a taboo because you are coming to break your leg and leave half way and mess up your future”.
Some Ghanaians reacting to her comparison stated, “ Please don’t mention JJ and Nana Ado in the same statement when talking of charisma. Nana Ado has no charisma. He’s a big-time fraud”.
A netizen added, “See how, as she mentioned, Aston Martin I just dey smile like mumu”.
“Massa… your brother for what we saw was a wicked old fool. He fooled us into getting to power.. But I bet he was the biggest fool as of Dec 2024”, a netizen added.
One more X user added, “Massa… your brother for what we saw was a wicked old fool. He fooled us to get to power.. but I bet he was the biggest fool as at Dec 2024”.
Watch the video below:
Before Rawlings & Nana Addo became presidents, they already controlled the ‘streets’ with their charm.
— Kafui Dey (@KafuiDey) January 13, 2026
Marigold Akufo-Addo draws a striking parallel between a young Jerry John Rawlings and her brother, Nana Akufo-Addo — charisma, crowds and a presence you couldn’t ignore.
Full… pic.twitter.com/JAqduro2im