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Today, Friday June 22, 2012 marks the 65th birthday of Ghana�s former President Flt. Lt (rtd) Jerry John Rawlings and indications are that many Ghanaians would send goodwill messages through the post, phone calls and text messages to the Founder of the ruling National Democratic Congress. A few privileged persons would be at the Ridge Office of the former President to wish him well. Unfortunately, those who would throng the office would not include some of his former colleagues in government, current government members and leading party members who have fallen out with the former President due to his constant criticism of President Mills� leadership style. The former President of Ghana spent his 64th Birthday in Caracas in Venezuela and it is known where the former President would celebrate his 65th birthday today. The former President, (born Jeremiah Rawlings John) was born on June 22, 1947 to Victoria Agbotui from Keta and to James Ramsey John, a Scottish chemist working in the then Gold Coast. He married Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings in 1977 and together they have four children: three girls and a boy. He enlisted as a Flight Cadet in the Ghana Air Force in August 1967, and was subsequently selected for officer cadet training at the Ghana Military Academy and Training School, Teshie, in Accra. Rawlings ruled Ghana as a military dictator in 1979 and from 1981 to 1992 and then as the first elected president of the Fourth Republic from 1992 to 2000. He is the joint recipient of the 1993 World Hunger Award which he used as seed capital in establishing the University of Development Studies (UDS) in the north of Ghana.