Mohamed Wehliye Before 1983 Burkina Faso was one of the poorest countries in the world, without raw materials, one doctor to every 50.000 inhabitants, an infant mortality of 107 for every thousands, a rate of schooling of 2%, a life expectancy of life 44 years old. Thomas Sankara, the son of a soldier, at 34 years old took over power “in order to give Africa back to the africans”. In four years he changed his country by first of all renaming Upper Volta to Burkina Faso meaning country of the integral ones. Thomas Sankara drastically reduced expenses of the state apparatus which upto that point absorbed 70% of the budget; those suspected of corruption were fired. The blue cars were abolished, Sankara arrived at ministerial meeting by bicycle. “We cannot be the rich ruling class of a poor country” he loved to repeat. The foreign heads of state visiting Burkina Faso, were not received in the presidential palaces but in the poor villages of the country. One of the targets of Sankara was to give dignity once again to the neglected peasants. In order to do this he adopted unpopular political measures such as increasing the prices of agricultural products and introducing customs duties, his mission was to achieve food self- sufficiency. The “intentional colonial pact” wanted by European countries still today renders many african states enslaved to the market. The Europeans imposed on their own colonies to cultivate what they needed. Chad produces cotton, Rwanda tea, Senegal peanuts. The monocultivation has put us in a position of submission these countries. Every year the price of the agricultural products comes down on the international market meaning the African countries are forced to import food in order to survive thus becoming indebted. Sankara wanted to escape from this cycle and he succeeded in this. During the years ’85- ’86 the Burkina Faso achieved food self- sufficiency, the production of cereals touched record levels, the GNP grew by 4.6% per annum. Sankara understood the importance of infrastructure and began the construction of the main railways of the country. February of 2004, Ethiopia had a tremendous food crisis. Hundreds of thousands of tons of maize rot in the silos because there was not the infrastructure to allow distribution to the population and they died. These were the injustices which Sankara opposed and therefore refused international aid. “With the annual wage of a FAO employee we can build a school in Burkina Faso” he once said. The international community was not in agreement with Sankara’s policies because he did not want to open the market to foreign companies and he entered war with the International Monetary Fund. In 1983 the foreign debt of Burkina Faso amounted to 398 million dollars (40% of GNP). “The debt in its actual form is the colonial reconquest, the debt cannot be repaid, that which the IMF has asked, we have already done he told them. The man who killed him is now gone! Lets hope BF finds another Sankara. Lets hope Africa finds many Sankaras.
Posted on: Fri, 31 Oct 2014 22:48:11 +0000
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