Burkina Faso: Land of Honest People Denies Sankara Honour in Death Email This Page Print This Page Visit The Publisher's Site Vanguard (Lagos) COLUMN January 14, 2005 Posted to the web January 14, 2005 Funmi Komolaf The African Union Summit on Employment and Poverty Reduction, hosted by the government of Burkina Faso, provided an opportunity for many delegates and journalists to have a feel of the country of late charismatic socialist leader, Captain Thomas Sankara. A Nigerian journalist described Ouagadougou, the state capital as similar to any other city in the northern part of Nigeria. "Oh! Ouagadougou is like Dutse" he exclaimed. However, there is more to such a description. Ouagadougou, is quite with only about 500 vehicles on the road at any particular time. The streets of Ouagadougou are quite clean and mainly two lane roads. There, even motor-cycles ( known as Okada ) in some parts of Nigeria are seen on the roads but not used for public transportation. Those who use such bikes surprisingly, obey traffic lights. They never disobey traffic rules. Burkina Faso, is a landlocked country which shares borders with Mali, Niger, Benin, Togo , Ghana and Ivory Coast. The official language is French. For a visitor, who does not speak French, communication may be difficult but of course you find some people who speak a little English. The country's population is estimated at 12 million. In Burkina Faso, the informal sector booms with most people trading in agricultural products. However, most of these products are perishable. Bananas, mangoes, groundnuts are sold in their natural form. Burkina Faso is reputed to be the world's second -largest exporter of raw cotton. Therefore, it was not surprising therefore, when the visitors trouped to the markets to buy African fabrics which the Burkinabes have made into different types of domestic items of decoration. The story of the vibrant informal sector of the Burkinabe economy would be incomplete without a mention of the role of Nigerians. For instance, a Nigerian Valentin owns a saloon in Ouagadougou. He who said he left Nigeria during the June 12 crisis as a result of which he terminated his university education. He employs four Burkinabe citizens. He told visiting journalists that Burkina Faso is peaceful. No harrassment of foreigners as soon as you regularise your resident permit. African Restaurant owned by the Okafor couple of Igbo extraction is popular in Ouagadougou. Of course while the summit lasted, the Okafors were well patronized by Nigerian delegates. The couple said they migrated to Ouagadougou from Katsina state. They also employ a Nigerian boy and about 5 Burkinabe girls. Nigerian dishes sold by the Okafors whom we reliably gathered cook for Nigerian embassy guests including heads of state, include, pounded yam, ogbono, vegetable with dry fish, fish pepper soup etc. You also find taxi drivers of Yoruba extraction in Ouagadougou. All Nigerians resident in Ouagadougou are united that the Burkinabes are quite hospitable. This, they demonstrated by their warm welcome for delegates right from the airport where they met delegates and entertained us with snacks. Mr. Okafor said he brings all his ingredients for his Nigerian delicacy from Nigeria. He said a trip to Ouagadougou by road through Badagry in Lagos takes a little over 30 hours. In other words, you leave Lagos on Monday morning and arrive, Ouagadougou between by evening of Wednesday. He attributes the duration of the trip to the many checks at the borders of the countries one needs to pass through before getting to Burkina Faso. Products of OK plastics the Ilasamja based plastic factory are all over the markets in Ouagadougou so much that you would think you are in Mushin market. In Ouagadougou, it is uncommon to find people carrying loads on their heads. Rather, they use donkeys and camels. For hotel accommodation, an average visitor can find his level. From hotels as cheap as $33 dollars to those as expensive as $400 dollars a night. Though a developing country, power failure is an unusual occurrence. For those of us lodged at Hotel Iris, we experienced power failure the night after it rained heavily. The next day before 6p.m., the electricity management outfit of Burkina Faso had restored power. Many Nigerians commended the efficiency of the electricity management outfit. The claim of the Burkinabes to honesty was put to test when a Nigerian journalist forget his entire estacode ( travelling allowance in U.S. dollars) in his room. He rushed back to the hotel and although the hotel room had been cleaned by attendants behold, he found his money his intact. We needed no other proof that Burkina Faso is truly the land of honest men. It is also remarkable that through out stay in Hotel Iris, which hosted about Nigerian journalists, government officials and delegates from South Africa , Ghana etc, no body reported the loss of any item to theft. This however does not mean that once in while some one is not caught stealing in the market but such a person is severely dealt with. Generally, the people are contented . Perhaps because their leaders do not flaunt wealth. When President Blaise Campaore arrived the venue of the OAU summit, he did so in a very simply manner. Even his wife was modestly dressed. The currency in Burkina Faso like any other French speaking country in West Africa is the CFA France. To them, the United States Dollar means nothing. An average Burkinabe citizen is proud of the CFA and would prefer that you pay in CFA than the U.S. dollars For night crawlers, there are night clubs in Ouagadougou. Nigerian prostitutes are also making brisk business in Ougadougou according to a Nigerian resident in that city. The people are also quick to invite the visitor to have a taste of the local meal of pounded plantain with dry fish in vegetable. Two Nigerian journalists; Mrs. Ekemini Ladejobi of News Agency of Nigeria and Juliana Taiwo of THISDAY described the meal as very delicious so much that they invited others to have a taste of the meal. Though, it seems a long distance, many Nigerians have heard about or visited Nigeria. A cab driver who gave a ride to a group of visiting Nigerians vowed that he would never visit Nigeria. Why? His father who had visited Lagos he was shot by armed robbers on two different occasions. So, the story is told about how unsafe Nigeria is. Not even the claim of Nigerians that the country is now safe, could convince the young man to visit Nigeria. Religion Burkinabe citizens are Christians, Muslims or African traditional worshipers. A Nigerian would find branches of the Redeem Christian Church of God and the Mountain of Fire Ministries in Ouagadougou. Some citizens are however not happy that the press is not free in Ouagadougou. The government we are told is very intolerant of press criticisms but it appears to be worker friendly. When workers staged a protest march for decent work in Africa, no police men brutalized anybody and we were not told that they had to apply for a permit 24 hours before they staged a peaceful protest. Thomas Sankara's grave For some of us, the visit to Ouagadougou was incomplete without a visit to the grave of Burkina Faso's late head of state, Thomas Sankara, a man many Nigerians loved for many reasons. Some for his ideological position, others for his charming look in his usual camouflage uniform. So, to the grave side we went. We were taken aback when we found that the grave side located in the outskirts of Ouagadougou in a village which our guide called Sankara's village is only about 100 meters from a refuse dump site. How could Burkina Faso treat Sankara, this way? we chorused. One of us insisted that as far as she is concerned, the grave side is in a dump site because the refuse dump could easily extend to the burial ground. The grave itself was painted green and red. On Sankara's grave someone wrote " President du Faso. Militant membre du Coseil National. De la Revolution. President du Faso , Chef de l'etat. meaning, ( President of Burkina Faso, militant member of the National Revolutionary Council , President of Burkina Faso, Head of State ) October 15, 1987 - 15 Oct. 2003, 16th Anniversary. Someone had remembered him on the 16th anniversary of his death.. As we stood by the grave of this great man, taking notes and photographs, villagers rode their bicycles past without paying any attention to the tourists at the site. Sankara was killed by a group of soldiers after what the Burkinabe government later described as " ideological disagreement". He was succeeded by the present head of state and his intimate friend, Captain Blaise Campaore. Others buried at the same site were, a journalists, Bamouni Paulin who we understand was also killed by those who killed Sankara. The others were 11 guards who were identified as: Saba Christopher, Zagre Sibiri, Kiemde Frederic, Campaore Bonaventure, Sove Patenama, Bationo Emmanuel, Ouedraogo Wallilaye, Somda Dev, Guen Abdoulaye, Jagag Nion, Sawadogo Noufou and Sawadogo Amade. The grave overlooks Sankara family home. We were told that his wife and children have been living in France since he was assassinated. However, it was not only the visitors that were alarmed at the failure of the Campaore government to honour Thomas Sankara, by making his grave site a tourist attraction, 17 years after the present government's loyalists cut short the life of that promising leader who actually changed the country's name from Upper Volta to Burkina Faso; land of honest men. A number of Burkinabes told us that they too were disappointed but are helpless because even the media dares not express the peoples' feeling on this sensitive issue. However, Ouagadougou is suitable for a holiday. For a visitor from Nigeria however, there is no direct flight to Ouagadougou. The tourist would have to fly first to Ethiopia or Cameroon to connect a flight to Ouagadougou. Relevant Links West Africa Burkina Faso Nigeria Labour The weather is generally hot as you would find in most parts of northern Nigeria, so the visitor needs more cotton fabrics except of course during the rainy season. Honesty a virtue of the Burkinabes gives one hope that Africa is not all about fraudulent people. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Make allAfrica.com your home page -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Top | Site Français | Site Guide | Who We Are | Advertising | Search | Subscribe -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright © 2005 Vanguard. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). Click here to contact the copyright holder directly for corrections -- or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Questions or Comments? Contact us. 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