Ghana, Burkina Faso: Pan-African solidarity

Burkina Faso’s military ruler, Captain Ibrahim Traoré, is a charismatic 37-year-old.

He has adroitly constructed the persona of a revolutionary Pan-Africanist leader who, with skill and determination, wants to free his country from the grip of Western imperialism and neo-colonialism.

Anyone who follows social media will be aware that Captain Traoré is regarded by many Ghanaians, especially among the young, as a potential saviour, a breath of fresh air and a beacon of hope during trying economic times. 

Captain Traoré’s admirers see him as following in the footsteps of African heroes like Ghana’s Jerry John Rawlings and Burkina Faso’s very own Thomas Sankara, a Marxist-inspired revolutionary, sometimes referred to as ‘Africa’s Che Guevara’.

This writer is old enough to remember the heady, revolutionary days of 1982-3, when Ghana was in the throes of what its architect, Flt-Lt. Jerry John Rawlings, called a ‘revolution’.

I completed my BA studies at Staffordshire University in the United Kingdom in mid-1983.

Rawlings 

At this time, which many with hindsight saw as the high-water mark of Ghana’s revolution, I was looking for a suitable topic for my doctorate.

Ghana’s Rawlings-led revolution caught my eye.

My PhD topic was the governance of the Provisional National Defence Council. I completed my PhD in mid-1988, having spent many months in Ghana in 1985.

Mid-1988 was when the PNDC government was taking its first tentative steps to reintroduce democracy after several years of unelected, military-led rule.

Flt-Lt. Jerry John Rawlings was a close associate of Captain Sankara, who was assassinated on October 15, 1987, aged 37 years, by soldiers led by Blaise Compaoré, who assumed leadership of the country shortly thereafter.

Compaoré retained power until the 2014 Burkina Faso uprising. In 2021, he was formally charged with and found guilty of the murder of Sankara by a military tribunal.

Mr Rawlings was in power in Ghana for nearly two decades, initially as a military leader who took power by coup d’etat, and then as a twice-elected civilian president.

On coming to power on December 31, 1981, aged 32, he was dubbed ‘Junior Jesus’.

However, after 19 years – leaving office finally in 2001 – it is fair to say that Mr Rawlings’ legacy is mixed: widely admired as the architect of Ghana’s vibrant liberal democracy but also regarded by some as contravening some Ghanaians’ human rights during his period in power.

I was reminded of Mr Rawlings’ governance by a recent ceremony in Burkina Faso.

A government delegation from Ghana joined the government and people of Burkina Faso in Ouagadougou at the inauguration of a memorial park and a giant statue in honour of Thomas Sankara on Saturday, May 17.

During a ceremony led by Captain Traoré, both Captain Sankara and Mr Rawlings were honoured. 

During Captain Traoré’s moving tribute to Thomas Sankara, Mr Rawlings was also remembered as a revolutionary figure who embodied bold, people-first leadership.

While the event primarily focused on Sankara’s legacy, it seemed natural to extend it to include Mr Rawlings, a man whom many consider as Sankara’s ideological twin.

The importance of the event to President Mahama’s government was clear. Several senior government officials were present, representing President Mahama at the ceremony in Ouagadougou to show solidarity with Burkina Faso.

Among the attendees were the Minister of Defence, Dr Edward Omane Boamah; the Minister of the Interior, Mohammed Mubarak Muntaka, and the Minister for Government Communications and Presidential Spokesperson, Felix Kwakye Ofosu. Others were Ghana's Special Envoy to the Alliance of Sahel States, Lt. Col. Gbevlo Lartey (rtd); the Member of Parliament for Korle Klottey, Dr Zanetor Agyeman-Rawlings, who also serves as the Chairperson for Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliament, and two more of Mr Rawlings’ children,  Yaa Asantewaa and Kimathi.

During the ceremony, Mr Rawlings’ contribution to African unity and accountability was highlighted, while some Burkinabè speakers openly celebrated Mr Rawlings’ fearlessness, comparing his political courage to that of Captain Thomas Sankara. It was announced at the ceremony that an avenue in Ouagadougou is to be named after Mr Rawlings.

Support for democracy

Captain Traoré has been criticised for what some see as human rights transgressions, just as Mr Rawlings was during his time in power.

This raises an intriguing question. Does an apparent lack of concern with democracy and human rights matter? It may be that Captain Traoré’s manifest popularity as a military, rather than democratic, leader reflects a political shift taking place in Africa.

According to a 2024 Afrobarometer survey of 39 African countries, there is a tangible decline in support for democracy, although it remains the most popular form of government. 

It is suggested that democracy has failed to give hope to many young people, as it does not appear to have delivered sufficient jobs or better education and health.

Captain Traoré, just like Mr Rawlings four decades ago, appears to be offering an alternative, spurring some to optimism that at last, Africa could be free of foreign control and neo-imperial machinations.

This might be seen as a recapturing of the spirit of two earlier historic epochs: the initial years of post-colonial optimism in the 1960s and the revolutionary populist confidence of figures like Mr Rawlings and Captain Sankara in the early 1980s.

The writer is an Emeritus Professor of Politics, London Metropolitan University, UK.