Last week, the interim government in Burkina Faso announced that it was going to collaborate with the family of the Late Captain Thomas Sankara, one of the most beloved leaders of post-independent Africa, to examine whether it was his body that was in fact buried, when he was assassinated in a 1987 coup organized by Blaise Campaore, who was chased out of power last year.
Thomas Sankara was the Marxist revolutionary military officer who changed the colonial name of Upper Volta, to Burkina Faso, meaning land of honourable people.
He was one of the most charismatic leaders in African history; he led by example of dedication to the cause of the Burkinabe people and of Africa.
He instituted the mass mobilization of the people of his country to begin to consciously work together to overcome the legacies of underdevelopment.
A mass immunization program; mass education, even afforestation programs, brought millions of hitherto neglected people into the development process. Thomas Sankara became a genuine inspiration for African youth and patriots everywhere, showing the latent possibilities available within our people.
He was tragically killed in the coup led by the criminal, Blaise Campaore. It is hoped that justice can be served in the tragic case, after so many decades.
