Thomas Sankara was Burkina Faso’s president from
August 1983 until his assassination on October 15, 1987. Perhaps, more than any
other African president in living memory, Thomas Sankara, in four years,
transformed Burkina Faso from a poor country, dependent on aid, to an
economically independent and socially progressive nation.
Thomas Sankara began by purging
the deeply entrenched bureaucratic and institutional corruption in Burkina
Faso. He slashed the salaries of ministers and sold off the fleet of exotic
cars in the president’s convoy, opting instead for the cheapest brand of car
available in Burkina Faso, Renault 5. His salary was $450 per month and he
refused to use the air conditioning units in his office, saying that he felt
guilty doing so, since very few of his country people could afford it. Thomas
Sankara would not let his portrait be hung in offices and government
institutions in Burkina Faso, because every Burkinabe is a Thomas Sankara, he
declared. Sankara changed the name of the country from the colonially imposed
Upper Volta to Burkina Faso, which means land of upright men.
Thomas Sankara’s achievements
are numerous and can only be summarized briefly; within the first year of his
leadership, Sankara embarked on an unprecedented mass vaccination program that
saw 2.5 million Burkinabe children vaccinated. From an alarming 280 deaths for
every 1,000 births, infant mortality was immediately slashed to below 145
deaths per 1,000 live births. Sankara preached self reliance, he banned the
importation of several items into Burkina Faso, and encouraged the growth of
the local industry. It was not long before Burkinabes were wearing 100% cotton
sourced, woven and tailored in Burkina Faso. From being a net importer of food,
Thomas Sankara began to aggressively promote agriculture in Burkina Faso,
telling his country people to quit eating imported rice and grain from Europe,
“let us consume only what we ourselves control,” he emphasized. In less
than 4 years, Burkina Faso became self sufficient in food production through
the redistribution of lands from the hands of corrupt chiefs and land owners to
local farmers, and through massive irrigation and fertilizer distribution
programs. Thomas Sankara utilized various policies and government assistance to
encourage Burkinabes to get education. In less than two years as president,
school attendance jumped from about 10% to a little below 25%, thus overturning
the 90% illiteracy rate he met upon assumption of office.
Living way ahead of his time,
within 12 months of his leadership, Sankara vigorously pursued a
reforestation program that saw over 10 million trees planted around the country
in order to push back the encroachment of the Sahara Desert. Uncommon at
the time he lived, Sankara stressed women empowerment and campaigned for the
dignity of women in a traditional patriarchal society. He employed women in
several government positions and declared a day of solidarity with housewives
by mandating their husbands to take on their roles for 24 hours. A
personal fitness enthusiast, Sankara encouraged Burkinabes to be fit and was
regularly seen jogging unaccompanied on the streets of Ouagadougou; his
waistline remained the same throughout his tenure as president.
In 1987, during a meeting of
African leaders under the auspices of the Organization of African Unity, Thomas
Sankara tried to convince his peers to turn their backs on the debt owed
western nations. According to him, “debt is a cleverly managed reconquest of
Africa. It is a reconquest that turns each one of us into a financial slave.”
He would not request for, nor accept aid from the west, noting that
“…welfare and aid policies have only ended up disorganizing us, subjugating us,
and robbing us of a sense of responsibility for our own economic, political,
and cultural affairs. We chose to risk new paths to achieve greater
well-being.”
Thomas Sankara was a
pan-Africanist who spoke out against apartheid, telling French President
Jacques Chirac, during his visit to Burkina Faso, that it was wrong for him to
support the apartheid government and that he must be ready to bear the
consequences of his actions. Sankara’s policies and his unapologetic
anti-imperialist stand made him an enemy of France, Burkina Faso’s former
colonial master. He spoke truth to power fearlessly and paid with his life.
Upon his assassination, his most valuable possessions were a car, a
refrigerator, three guitars, motorcycles, a broken down freezer and about
$400 in cash.
In death, Thomas Sankara’s
burial place is unkempt and filled with weeds (click to see Thomas Sankara’s
graveyard http://youtu.be/bY2UpSxXPlw ). Few young Africans have ever heard
of Thomas Sankara. In reality, it is not the assassination of Thomas Sankara
that has dealt a lethal blow to Africa and Africans; it is the
assassination of his memory, as manifested in the indifference to his
legacy, in the lack of constant reference to his ideals and ideas by Africans,
by those who know and those who should know. Among physical and mental dirt and
debris lie Africa’s heroes while the younger generations search in vain for
role models from among their kind. Africans have therefore, internalized
self-abhorrence and the convictions of innate incapability to bring about
transformation. Transformation must run contrary to the African’s DNA,
many Africans subconsciously believe.
Africans are not given to
celebrating their own heroes, but this must change. It is a colonial legacy
that was instituted to establish the inferiority of the colonized and justify colonialism.
It was a strategic policy that ensured that Africans celebrated the heroes of
their colonial masters, but not that of Africa. Fifty years and
counting after colonialism ended, Africa’s curriculum must now be
redrafted to reflect the numerous achievements of Africans. The present
generation of Africans is thirsty, searching for where to draw the moral,
intellectual and spiritual courage to effect change. The waters to quench the
thirst, as other continents have already established, lies fundamentally in
history - in Africa’s forbears, men, women and children who
experienced much of what most Africans currently experience, but who
chose to toe a different path. The media, entertainment industry, civil society
groups, writers, institutions and organizations must begin to search out and
include African role models, case studies and examples in their contents.
For Africans, the strength
desperately needed for the transformation of the continent cannot be drawn from
World Bank and IMF policies, from aid and assistance obtained from China,
India, the United States or Europe. The strength to transform Africa lies in
the foundations laid by uncommon heroes like Thomas Sankara; a man who showed
Africa and the world that with a single minded pursuit of purpose, the
worst can be made the best, and in record time, too
Culled from SaharaReporters
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