Parliament has described as a monumental loss, the death of former President Jerry John Rawlings.Rawlings died Thursday morning at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital in Accra after a short illness, at the age of 73.

A statement issued by the Parliament’s Director of Public Affairs, Kate Addo, said Speaker, Professor Aaron Michael Oquaye and the entire Parliament “learnt with utmost sadness”, the passing of the former president.

“President Rawlings was the first President of the Fourth Republic. He was a great Statesman who devotedly spoke against corruption in all its forms. His contribution to our current democratic dispensation cannot be glossed over.

“His frequent appearances at functions in Parliament were always occasioned with warm exchanges between him and the Speaker, Leaders and Members from both sides of the House. His last public appearance was at the funeral rites of his late mother, Madam Victoria Agbotui, about two weeks ago at which event he looked his usual hale and hearty self.

“Speaker Oquaye and the entire Parliament extend their condolences to his wife, former first lady Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings, his children, his extended family and friends, his political colleagues and the entire nation for this monumental loss. His passing is indeed a great loss to our Republic. May he find eternal rest in the bosom of his creator.”