“We must dare to invent the future”

“We must dare to invent the future”
Today Sankara is not well known outside Africa - his character and ideas simply don’t fit with the notion of Africa which has been constructed in the West over the last 30 years. It would be difficult to find a less corrupt, self-serving leader than Thomas Sankara anywhere in the world. But neither does he fit the image charities like to portray of the ‘deserving poor’ in Africa. Sankara was clear on the role of Western aid, just as he was clear on the role of debt in controlling Africa: 
“The root of the disease was political. The treatment could only be political.
Thomas Isidore Noel Sankara, was born on 21 December 1949 in Yako, Upper Volta. After his completion of the secondary education, he joined the military at the age of 19. It is in Antsirabe, Madagascar that he got his training as an officer. Thomas Sankara was a passionate and a visionary, came across Karl Marx and Vladimir Lenin’s works while he was in training on the big Island, works that influenced greatly Thomas Sankara political views for the rest of his life. After two years he returned to Upper Volta, where he was stationed on the border between Mali and Upper Volta.
Thomas Sankara,had an unleashing  passion for music and a particular  affection  for  guitar which he decently played and was even a member  of the band  "Tout a coup jazz".
He got his first appointment in government cabinet post in September 1981, as Secretary of the state. In less than a year Thomas Sankara resigned from his post as a declaration of his opposition to the way the current regime was ruling the country. In November  1982,after a coup  Jean – Baptiste Oueduaogo was brought  to power  and Thomas  Sankara  became  Prime  Minister in January1983, which lasted not more than five months as he got dismissed  in May 17 of the same year.
On August 1983, his close friend, Captain Blaise Compaore organised a coup d’etat and Sankara became president at the age of 33. The revolutionary Thomas Sankara fueled by example of Fidel Castro, Che Guevara and Jerry Rawlings, took Upper Volta and called the country to the new ideology of the revolution which was defined as anti-imperialism. He made no compromise on his policy of fighting corruption, working toward the reforestation, education, food self-sufficiency and health. 
The first year of his accession as president, Thomas Sankara renamed Upper Volta as Burkina Faso, which means “the land of the upright people”. It did not take long for the young nationalist to roll up his sleeves and put his speech to action.
He sold off the government fleet of Mercedes cars and made the Renault 5 (the cheapest car sold in Burkina Faso at that time) the official service car of the ministers. He reduced the salaries of well-off public servants, including his own, and forbade the use of government chauffeurs and 1st class airline tickets. In Ouagadougou, Sankara converted the army's provisioning store into a state-owned supermarket open to everyone (the first supermarket in the country) He refused to use the air conditioning in his office on the grounds that such luxury was not available to anyone but a handful of Burkinabe, as President, he lowered his salary to $450 a month and limited his possessions to a car, four bikes, three guitars, a fridge and a broken freezer
The revolutionary's effervescent rising and the Burkina filled with patriotism, Thomas Sankara used the local manpower to build railway over 700 kilometers despite the refusal of financial aid from the Western countries. Burkina Faso became the largest wheat producers with 3900kg per hectare while from East to West the other African countries were producing 1700kg per hectare.
Captain Sankara gave himself no time to rest; his passion was too great to feel the tiredness. Houses were built and medical care given to the people. In one week only 2.5millions Burkinabe, got vaccinated against polio diseases, a remarkable achievement saluted by the World Health Organization. The rise in cotton production was eloquent; economically Burkina Faso was winning the fight of being a self-sufficient country. The Africanist Sankara was one of the first leaders in the continent to believe in women's right. The Captain banned forced marriages, female genital mutilation and polygamy. He even asked the men to be the one who go to market on woman's day.
On October 15, 1987, Sankara was killed by an armed group with twelve other officials in a coup d'état organised by his former colleague and friend Blaise Compaoré. Sankara's body was dismembered and he was quickly buried in an unmarked grave
Sankara, the late revolutionary leader and military captain who transformed the country from a little known colonial outpost to an icon of progress whose name means “Land of the upright people” died during a coup in 1987 when Sankara’s Deputy Blaise Compaore seized power. Compaore has denied any connection with Sankara’s death, which has been officially attributed to “natural causes.” After Compaore’s ouster last year, a transitional government agreed to open an investigation.

Despite Captain Thomas  Sankara's death, forever will resound;

 “Homeland or death,we will win!”
Didier Zephir,
26th December 2015