![]() ![]() He stopped the use of government chauffeurs and first-class airline tickets, replaced luxury cars with bikes, and even had air conditioners removed from certain briefing rooms, including his office. An advocate of integrity and decency in the conduct of government affairs, Sankara reduced the salary of government officials and public servants, including his own, to a reasonable level. He changed the name of the country from Upper Volta to Burkina Faso, loosely translating to “Land of the Upright” to highlight his vision for his people. On assuming office, Sankara embarked on a “democratic and popular revolution” based on a complete re-building of the entrenched systems that he felt stagnated the country’s progress and potential. He coined the term “neocolonialism”, encapsulating, among other things, the grip he felt organizations such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund maintained on African economies. The Sankara Years: A Man Ahead of His TimeĪ vocal anti-imperialist and champion of liberation for oppressed peoples globally, he was inspired by and worked closely with leaders of the Non-Aligned Movement, particularly Jerry Rawlings of Ghana, Fidel Castro of Cuba, Che Guevara of Chile, and Samora Machel of Mozambique. Merely four years later, though, his tenure was cut short after he was assassinated in another coup, which was largely deemed to have been encouraged by certain external forces for the benefit of his friend Blaise Compaoré, who took over as president shortly after and ruled for 27 years. Sankara and Compaoré formed the National Council of the Revolution which sought to democratize, modernize, and economically liberate Burkina Faso. On August 4, 1983, with the support of his childhood friend and military comrade, Blaise Compaoré, Sankara became Burkina Faso’s president following a military coup, which toppled the Ouédraogo administration. He was arrested numerous times and finally forced out of office in May 1983. It also made him several enemies within conservative circles. ![]() Sankara was a vivacious left-wing thinker whose outspokenness, intellectual prowess, political insight, and charisma won him sweeping support across the country. ![]() In 1983, he was appointed as prime minister following a coup d’état by President Jean-Baptiste Ouédraogo. ![]() Popularly known as ‘Africa’s Che Guevara’ and considered as the founding father of Burkina Faso, Sankara was a military officer, pan-Africanist, and Marxist-Leninist revolutionary. Hence, there will be no closure.Īlmost thirty-five years after his death on October 15, 1987, in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, 14 defendants, including former President Blaise Compaoré, were found guilty, on April 6, 2022, of assassinating Captain Thomas Isidore Noël Sankara, a charismatic and transformational leader.įollowing this verdict, albeit in absentia for two key accused including former President Compaoré, would Thomas Sankara’s soul transit into the land beyond? Would his homestead know peace, more so that Compaoré has sent emissaries, including his daughter, from his exile in Cote d’Ivoire, to apologize to the family of Sankara and the people of Burkina Faso? What does the verdict teach us about the tenacity of a people in the pursuit of justice? thereby prolonging the anguish of loved ones and disturbing everybody’s peace, including that of the presumed murderer(s). In some cases, it is even a belief that, if the killers do not confess their deadly acts or seek forgiveness, the dead will be regularly sighted around the homestead, the village square, marketplaces, etc. In Burkina Faso, like in many African cultures, it is believed that the soul of a murdered person will not transit into the “land beyond” until the crime has been atoned for or avenged. “For nothing is hidden which will not become manifest, nor secret which shall not be known and come to light.” – Luke 8:17 “While revolutionaries and individuals can be murdered, you cannot kill ideas.” – Thomas Sankara ![]()
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