If Thomas Sankara Were Alive

The Righteousness of an African Revolution

That Africa is rich in human and a natural resource is no longer news. We can use Africa's immense latent resources to develop the continent, because our soil and subsoil are rich. We have the means to do that and we have an immense market, a vast market from north to south, east to west. We have sufficient intellectual capacities to create technology and science, or at least to adopt it wherever we find it. We should undertake to live as Africans. It is the only way to live free and to live in dignity (Thomas Sankara).

Thirty-two years after his assassination, Thomas Sankara's name remains appealing throughout Africa and beyond. The revolutionary leader's legacy consists of a call to unity, self- confidence and good governance. To the world's leaders, Sankara's concern for the less advantaged might serve as a reminder that sacrifice to humanity is a yardstick for assessing good leadership. Looking back at Sankara's dynamic and visionary presidency, might his revolutionary spirit be relevant to Burkina Faso and to the African continent today as it was then ? My take is an unwavering yes !