Our African 'Christ'

Thomas Sankara may not be a household name, yet to many Africans, he was a leader almost of equal stature to Nelson Mandela and Kwame Nkrumah. Born in 1949 in a country formerly known as Upper Volta, Sankara embarked on a military career, quickly rising in the ranks. Sankara became his country’s head of state in 1983 after leading a coup d’état against the then current government. He renamed his country Burkina Faso, meaning “Land of Upright People.”

For a man referred to as “The African Che Guevara,” it is no surprise that he is still widely unknown in the West. Profoundly influenced by the work of Karl Marx and Vladimir Lenin, he committed his presidency to eradicating poverty and to uplifting the common man. As a Pan- Africanist, he sought to end the political ventriloquism practiced by former African colonial rulers as well as the continent’s dependency on foreign aid. “He who feeds you, controls you”, he argued.

A leader ahead of his time, Sankara was also dedicated to seeing the status of women in his country improve. Under his government, female genital mutilation, polygamy, forced marriages, and other practices that undermine the dignity of women were discouraged and banned. He became the first African head of state to elevate women to multiple top government positions, as well as recruiting them in the army.

A frugal man, Sankara sold off the government’s fleet of Mercedes vehicles, making the Renault 5, the cheapest car available in the country at the time, the official vehicle for his ministers. He reduced his own salary to $450 a month plus his personal possessions. He also banned the use of government chauffeurs and first class airline tickets by his government officials. He encouraged the Burkinabe to purchase garments produced by their fellow countrymen. Sankara also refused air conditioning in his office, arguing that most of his fellow countrymen lived without such luxuries.

His other achievements include policies to fight corruption, environmental protection and reforestation of the Sahel, promotion of education and health, agricultural sustainability, and land redistribution. A charismatic Marxist revolutionary who was a thorn in the flesh of former colonial powers, it was Sankara’s outspoken anti-imperialism that got him killed in 1987. He left office the way he came, through a coup d’état masterminded by his former close ally, Blaise Compaoré, who was backed by the French. He died during the coup, at the age of 38.