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, said, “let us consume what we
ourselves control,” he emphasized. In less than 4 years, Burkina Faso became self-
sufficient in foods 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 a 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 also
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 fitted 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
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=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 blowed 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 runs 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.

cc:
Seun
Lalasticlala

This topic (and it's contents) deserve to be on FP; please do the needful. The simplest reason Africa countries have remained mired in stagnation is because we've refused to learn from our past; our history books need to be re-written.

Sparonani:


...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.

...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, said, “let us consume what we
ourselves control,” he emphasized.

.... 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.”

...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.

... 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.