On the Ouster of Blaise Campaore

I did not like Blaise Campaore, the Burkinabe President. I did not like him because when I was a big boy in high school, I learnt that a few years earlier, he had betrayed, overthrown and killed his friend, Thomas Sankara, a man about whom I would, over the years, read so much and come to admire greatly.

He was a man well ahead of his time. In power at 33, he was killed at 37 but in those 4 years he made such a fundamental impact not only in Burkina Faso but across the continent, and one might say, his greatest impact is yet to come because his is a truly enduring legacy. The very fact that I am writing about Sankara today on the day of Campaore’s resignation – after 27 years of his one-man rule is indicative of the “Sankara effect”.
His ideas, his philosophy of leadership, his vision for Africa is something that every boy and girl on the continent must read and learn.

Sankara embodied the spirit of servant leadership. He was a humble man who tried very hard to remove the unnecessary accessories that often accompany power. He abhorred the culture of greed and conspicuous consumption that is so rampant on the continent. He used modest means of transport and asked the same of his ministers. He talked and implemented the ideas of using local resources and empowering the people and he was not hypocritical about it in the way we have seen elsewhere on the continent where leaders preach one thing and do another. Sankara understood, long before most caught up to the idea, the importance of women’s rights. He placed women at the centre of development.

I have books that capture his speeches – something that I would love my own sons to read. Was he perfect? No, he was not. But who is? The point is, he endevoured to live up to the name that he gave to his country, formerly called Upper Volta. Burkina Faso – I know young men back home use it to mean something entirely different but it actually means Land of Upright Men. His philosophy of leadership is something that has influenced my own approach to life in general, including the manner in which I engage with other people and issues, even if I do not like them or their ideas.

I have been fascinated by the response among my own countrymen and women to the overthrow of Sankara’s tormentor, Campaore. For some, it’s good because Campaore was a puppet of Western powers. For others, it’s good to see a man who has overstayed in power being removed by collective will and action of the people – with a little help from the armed forces. I guess it’s natural for people who feel they are in similar circumstances to celebrate the downfall of seemingly irremovable strongmen elsewhere. But for once, both ruling party and opposition supporters in Zimbabwe seem united in celebration of this political event – but for entirely different reasons.

For my part, and I guess others who admired Thomas Sankara, we are just happy that at least, and at last, he has got his comeuppance. And we hope the legacy and spirit of Sankara lives on – far and beyond the borders of Burkina Faso. One day, we hope also, that our own country will have a leader with the combined qualities of Sankara – humble, selfless, disciplined and without the appetite for corruption, greed and conspicuous consumption. In short, a leader who understands the people, their needs and leads by example.

wamagaisa@yahoo.co.uk