Thomas Sankara: Internal Contradictions, External Conspiracies and the Search for an African Leader

Abstract

Despite the struggles of the African states to entrench democracy, evolve out of the devastating woods of colonial adventure and embark on lasting nation building programmes, projects and policies, there are remarkable constraints and hurdles bothering on their ability to upstage leaders with vision, character, capacity, capability and courage who see the myriad of possibilities and
opportunities in the constituent states. The continent, though bedevilled with visionary leadership vacuum, may also need to move beyond the ‘leadership’ explanation and find more plausible reasons why African leaders often seem unwilling or unable to ensure stronger policies and deeper democracies. There are inherent internal contradictions, structural defects, social dislocations and
external conspiracies as epitomised by the truncated leadership revolution brought on stage by Thomas Sankara, former President of Burkina Faso. This paper examines such issues with a view to analysing the internal contradictions and external conspiracies which deviate from the arguments of western scholars that African culture rejects the values which underpin democracy. But in some cases, even their own evidence points in the opposite direction, showing that their African respondents’ value accountable government, free speech and the right to a say in decisions as well as participation in policy making process of the component states, all of which are core democratic values. Indeed, the leadership question in Africa is complex characterized by external and internal contradictions which need to be resolved if the continent is to be reckoned with in the comity of nations. This paper is a field research with reliance on secondary sources of data in published outlets, newspaper interviews, and books. The objective of the paper is to critically
evaluate the theoretical basis of good governance as related to liberalization, democracy and decentralization, using Afrocentricity and Africana critical theory. The paper recommends deliberate strategic plans, programmes and policies that will enhance the upstaging of visionary, capacious, courageous leaders across Africa.