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Son of a Castle Douglas chemist and former President of Ghana dies
Get the stories that matter to you sent straight to your inbox with our daily newsletter.A Kirkcudbrightshire chemist’s son who went on to become President of Ghana has died in hospital in Accra, the country’s capital, aged 73.Jerry John (JJ) Rawlings is reported to have contracted Covid-19 after attending his mother’s funeral in the city.He was the son of James Ramsay John, a pharmacist from Castle Douglas who spent almost 30 years in the country.James became head of Kingsway Chemists, now part of the Unilever Group, and met Jerry’s mother Victoria Agbotui at a society function in State House, Accra.They began a six-year clandestine relationship which produced a son, Jeremiah Rawlings John, in 1947.A clerical error on Jerry’s admission to
