By Rev. S.M. Williams J.P.   

The mercurial success of Captain Ibrahim Traore’ at governance in so little time begs the question whether so-called democratic governments are better than military governments. Which is of the people? Which is for the people? Which is by the people? Take your pick!

Ayatollah Khomeini of Iran staged the greatest revolution of the 20th century when he overthrew the Shah’s oligarchy. The 21st century is yet too young and there is no knowing whether there will be other radical revolutionaries that will surpass that of Captain Ibrahim Traore’. May his success increase.

Captain Traore’ is a virtual reincarnation of Captain Thomas Sankara whose writings are regularly excerpted in the Awoko newspaper. He is poised to finish Sankara’s job but only if he is given the time by patriotic citizens and protagonists of democracy of sorts everywhere. That cycling Sankara while the Mercedes Benz and other luxury cars stood idle in the presidential fleet is back with Burkina Faso in a new skin.

Back home our President Bio missed the opportunity to be an Ibrahim Traore’ but a miss is as good as a mile. He could have achieved all these Traorean accolades by extending his leadership of military rule before handing over power rashly with the slogan Election Before Peace! Not only that.

President Bio seems to have got his priorities wrong resulting in controversial election results. Had he opted for Agriculture as his first priority instead of Education he might have had a landslide result like President Tejan Kabbah forestalling all the razzmatazz that is going on apparently endlessly. Brigadier Bio was one of our citizens who lay down his life for his country by marching on Freetown that lad a standing army. Subsequently he staged a palace coup climaxing his bravery but he has failed to follow with radical measures.

His radicalism seems to have been tempered by a bunch of sycophants some of whom he has cashiered. Small wonder that the I.G.R. can state without fear or favour that SLPP is governing in the same line with the A.P.C. So what is the difference? Why should citizens not just discard their manifestos and vote whimsically? Responsible citizens can still discern a thin line between them and vote accordingly regardless of region or tribe.

“A little learning is a dangerous thing,

Drink deep or taste not the Pierian spring;

There shallow draughts intoxicate the brain,

And drinking largely sobers us again”

ALEXANDER POPE

The verse above speaks eloquently for itself. In addition an English proverb states; “Never do things by halves,” The free-education which was the blaring first flagship of the SLPP government was ostensibly well meaning. But when today’s well-educated citizenry are compared with the standards of President Bio himself there is an undesirable yawning gap with the latter falling far short. Malpractices of all sorts add to the smattering. Today’s WASSCE, Certificate with a few exceptions are not on the same level with the Cambridge School Certificate in terms of general education.

As a result of this deficit the President should have gone the whole hog by providing free education to university level to equip students for every good work. In any case there are thousands of qualified WASSCE students gyrating within our communities because their parents or guardians cannot afford tertiary fees for them to have complete and functional education. President Bio’s semi-free education will only be realized in the next ten years or so if malpractices are stymied.

What has been done in Burkina Faso and Botswana could have been done and could still be done in this resource-rich country living on potentials. It needs the political will and courage of a leader.

To quote from the May 19th edition of Night Watch newspaper: “He reduced the salaries of ministers and parliamentarians by 30% and increased the salaries of civil servants by 50%”.

What more to the development of the state that politicians can do than civil servants that they should be paid such colossal salaries vis-à-vis the lower classes? In their heart of hearts they know that this is not right but they want to maintain the status quo ante: it’s to their undoing ineluctably. Bridging the wage gap is a populist move and never calls for an uprising.

Traore’ “has rejected loans from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the world Bank saying that ‘Africa does not need the World Bank, IMF Europe or America and lifted Burkina Faso’s GDP from approximately $18.8 billion to $22.1 billion. He has paid off Burkina Faso’s local debts.”

Will such a leader lose a free and fair election? The answer is a reverberating NO. Traore’s example does not mean that charlatans and nincompoops should attempt to overthrow democratically elected governments by coup detats. Successful attempts will result in being heads of state while failures will result in being heads of gallows. Beware! Revolutionaries are born and not made.

Team Burkina Faso has won the West African Good Governance trophy for the past two consecutive years. Is Sierra Leone the runners up in spite of disputed elections, tripartite meetings and increasing IMF loans et cetera? Let’s wait and see.

“God give us men! A time like this demand.

Strong minds, great hearts, true faith and ready hands,

Men whom he lust of office does not kill;

Men whom the spoils of office cannot buy;

Men who possess opinions and a will

Men who have honor; men who will not lie”

1. G. HOLLAND

Let us keep praying fervently and ceaselessly for such men.

Thanks for reading.