Who killed
the lion king?
There is actually no murder mystery:
CAN WE LEARN SOMETHING FROM THIS GREAT LEADER?
When
Thomas Sankara was killed after four years as President of Burkina Faso, it was
at the orders – if not at the hands – of one of his oldest friends, now
President Blaise Compaoré. Echoes of Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar as much
as Disney’s The Lion King. Why should we care about this particular
African tragedy?
We should care because the
revolution Sankara led between 1983 and 1987 was one of the most creative and
radical that Africa has produced in the decades since independence. He started
to blaze a trail that other African countries might follow, a genuine
alternative to Western-style modernization – and, like other radical African
leaders such as Patrice Lumumba and Amilcar Cabral, was shot down as a result.
Whereas his murderer, still in power eight now twenty years later, has pursued
self-enrichment and politics as usual – and has been fêted by the West for his
compliance.
An incorruptible
man
-
A major anti-corruption drive began in 1987. The tribunal showed Captain Thomas Sankara to have a salary of only $450 a month and his most valuable possessions to be a car, four bikes, three guitars, a fridge and a broken freezer. He was the world’s poorest president.
-
Sankara refused to use the air conditioning in his office on the grounds that such luxury was not available to anyone but a handful of Burkinabes.
-
When asked why he had let it be known that he did not want his portrait hung in public places, as is the norm for other African leaders (and as Blaise Compaoré does now), Sankara said ‘There are seven million Thomas Sankaras’
No comments:
Post a Comment