What they really think about President Traore in Burkina Faso

I spent a month in Ouagadougu speaking to people about President Trarore

This was my fifth visit to Burkina Faso, the first being in 2012 and the first since Ibrahim Trarore took power. His actions have upset western powers but created a dedicated following online in the West from the African diaspora, black activists and many on the left.

Embracing Pan-Africanism and anti-imperialist ideals, he is unsurprisingly compared to the country’s inspirational, radical leader of the 1980s Thomas Sankara, who I’ve written about before. Both came to power in military coups and used their power to launch drastic changes, seen as positive by many. Echoes of Sankara’s assassination in a French backed coup after only four years in office, are evident in the several attempts on Trarore’s life already. It’s hardly stretching credulity to suggest French involvement in these attempts, given their anger at having their military and exploitative business interests being unceremoniously kicked out of the country, much to the celebration of the locals. In my many years of coming to francophone West Africa, I can honestly say that I’ve never once heard anyone say a good word about the French government.

Understanding opinions about President Traore, requires some context about the quality of life, the economy and the security situation in the country. There’s no escaping the fact that it is a poor country. This might not be quite so evident walking around the centre of the capital Ouagadougu but the nearer you get to the outskirts, it becomes increasingly apparent: minor roads are almost all dirt; electricity, water and sewage services reduce to zero in parts; homes increasingly are made of bare concrete blocks with corrugated iron roofs; rubbish is left to fester on open ground. It is in one such community, Djongo, that my friend Mamadou lives, who I got to know on my first visit. As I wrote at the time, life in villages can get even more basic.

The biggest brake on development is undoubtedly the security situation, which is largely the result of NATOs illegal, regime change war in Libya in 2011, although US destabilisation efforts in the Sahel date back to the Bush era, which left lingering effects until today. The devastating fallout created by the war has been completely ignored by the western media. There is little doubt that both French and US support has gone to the Islamic extremist groups in West Africa, even if its exact nature is impossible to quantify. Ukraine’s support for terrorists in neighbouring Mali, is well documented and has led to the deaths of many civilians under the flimsy excuse of fighting Russian forces there. Borders mean nothing to the various violent groups plaguing several countries in the Sahel. Extremist violence only increased during western involvement in the region, when they claimed to be tackling it. The alliance between Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger, the AES, has allowed more effective coordination against extremist groups.

The reality is also a lot more complex, as the situation also involves bandits, smuggling gangs and conflict between nomadic cattle herders and farmers. At any particular time and place, two or more of these factors could intertwine, with people belonging to more than one of these groups.

Everyone I spoke to about the security situation said that things had improved in the last year and many have family in other parts of the country, so they weren’t just referring to the area around the capital. Although the problem is centred around extremist groups, Mamadou told me that armed robberies in the capital had decreased markedly. The improvements are supported by independent assessments but have come with much controversy, albeit largely from outside the country by the western establishment who would like to get rid of Trarore. A recent Human Rights Watch report accused the government of the indiscriminate killing of civilians. However HRW have a long history of fabricating and misrepresenting claims in the service of western regime change plans. Questions abound about the validity of the anonymous reports and interviews they cite. Understanding the complexity of the violence I referred to above is vital to contextualise such claims. Who is really a civilian and who isn’t? All these groups involved, outside of the obvious terrorists, could be called, or passed off as civilians, and potentially criminals or armed and violent. As was seen in the recent big attack in Mali, the extremist groups often disguise themselves in army uniforms. The French were also caught obtaining Burkina Faso army uniforms, which only adds to the suspicions about their covert activities. We could certainly question the appropriateness of the policy of arming militias to defend communities from the extremists, but equally desperate times sometimes call for desperate measures. Hundreds of soldiers have been killed in the conflict and even with the best will in the world, innocent victims are sadly inevitable, more so in such a messy, confused scenario as it is. It would be foolish to write off completely any abuses by government forces but without more genuinely independent analysis, we should remain wary of western backed claims.

Even without speaking to anyone, there were a number of visible signs in Ouagadougu that things had improved since my last visit. Some YouTube channels, graced with AI images have tried to make out Ouaga now looks more like Dubai, but that would be overstating things by a long way. It was however noticeably cleaner for a start, although waterways were still often clogged with rubbish, particularly plastic bags. This is sadly still a common site in many African cities. A big fleet of new bright green buses now services much of the capital and are popular with the locals. I can only assume that the network has expanded rapidly, because the app you can download to monitor times and route information has yet to recognise all the routes available. Pavements on some of the bigger roads had been improved and cleared of obstructions, such as illegally located businesses. Some roads had been dramatically improved with resurfacing and street lighting. I saw at least two new major road junctions as well as other roadworks in progress. The main business district around Avenue Kwame Nkruma had many new buildings and several more under construction, with some new businesses such as restaurants and cafes catering for a more upmarket clientele. Big business quite clearly hasn’t been scared off by Trarore’s policies and they wouldn’t be investing in multistory buildings if they didn’t have faith in increased future profits. In fact a couple of people told me that it was now easier to construct new buildings, as you didn’t have to pay off politicians and government officials to get anything big done. You just had to follow the required planning application process. Several people I spoke to commented that the reduction in corruption didn’t just apply to construction but much more generally, even if it hadn’t been totally eradicated.

It needs to be said that on previous visits I’d seen no developments of any great note, only the occasional new building or a limited length of roadworks. Improvements in the capital are no doubt on a totally new scale and some people did mention at least some similar improvements in other bigger towns, although not to the same extent as far as I could tell. Numerous projects under construction, such as hospitals, schools and factories have been well documented however.

The biggest take away for me from the conversations I had this time, is that many people spoke about the future with some hope, which simply never happened before. Previously everyone was just having to deal with the hardships of everyday life, just surviving was about all many people could expect to achieve. However there is no doubt that life remains difficult for the majority. Before ever getting on to the subject of the president, I asked people about their lives or businesses and like before, the most common response was, “ca va un peu”. An expression common in francophone Africa that needs some explanation. Unlike in many western cultures, asking people how they are isn’t a cue for explaining your problems, should you have them, that can come later as the conversation evolves. It implies, things could be better, whilst conforming to the cultural obligation of responding positively. If life was OK, albeit lacking anything particularly positive, a simple ca va would do. Equally, many of these same people went on to talk with great enthusiasm for the president, sometimes with little or no prompting from me. The improvements they could see, or had heard of, may not have touched their lives yet but they had faith that it would and at least the country as a whole had benefitted so far. A couple of people whose lives had not improved under Trarore’s rule certainly put the blame on him, saying that the economy was worse now, in the sense that people generally had less money to spend. There may well be some truth to this but it does merit some context. Many of the economic problems predate Traore and virtually all of the positive moves that people praised him for are more about investments to build a better economy and improving quality of life, rather than putting money directly into people’s pockets.

Take for example the road building plans that are already underway. Improved infrastructure is key to building an economy but apart from one person who said that a family member got given training as an excavator driver and then employment on the road building programme, no one could point to any individual gain. Little doubt that it will come, as the last two years have seen reasonable GDP growth, despite all the problems, but this is a much slower process to reach individuals.

A pregnant mother of two, who spoke positively about Trarore, explained that medicine for the under fives was now free, although that did sometimes mean getting reimbursed afterwards. This again is obviously a highly positive development but not one that directly puts money in people’s pockets. On far too many occasions I’ve seen people have to make hard decisions about buying medicines, which inevitably involved not being able to spend money on something else, that we in the West would consider as either provided free by the government or at least not a spending decision that required any concern.

One example of direct assistance to people that was mentioned, was the provision of tractors to farming communities. This helped them increase output and hence their earnings. Both here and in Benin, people have talked to me about how NGOs often made little effort to find out what farming communities really wanted. They would turn up, provide the thing they assumed the people would want, such as new toilets, without ever coming back to see how useful it was. Often the project would remain largely unused. By providing the means to increase earnings, such as machinery, people are then able to make their own decisions about how to invest that money in improving their lives. This gives them agency and doesn’t treat them as objects of charity.

My two main friends in Ouagadougu gave me access to different parts of the social spectrum: one very much at the poorer end; the other more professional, middle class people. Outside of this I had numerous opportunities to speak to others I encountered. Enthusiastic supporters of Trarore could be found in both camps but the wealthier group had two much more sceptical members. Even these said that he was still better than anyone else they’d had. They did talk about the pressure on people not to criticise the government but I’d presumed this possibility, which is why I only asked people specifically about the president when we were alone or with close family and friends, where everyone’s opinion was already well established. The obvious enthusiasm that many spoke with, was clearly something that was not faked. The two critics did have more general concerns about the authoritarian nature of the government but still conceded that some of what was being done was certainly positive. It’s important to note that among this more privileged group, were people who had been forced out of their home town in the north by extremist groups a few years ago. All of them viewed Blaise Camporé, the dictator ousted in 2014, as primarily responsible for the origin of terrorism in the country. Following administrations could be criticised for failing to solve the problem but Trarore has at least made progress, even though they are still unable to go home.

Although some said that the divide in opinion was largely between the poor and the wealthy, this is too simplistic. The one genuinely rich person I met was very supportive of the president, praising some of the government initiatives and its discipline in tackling the big issues. Others finessed this divide as more about how previous governments had formed networks of family and friends that funnelled public funds towards their own interests, such that even some fairly low down the rungs of the ladder gained from this. The New government’s more egalitarian approach and much lower tolerance for corruption deprived these networks, as well as others profiting from the previous system, of the money and influence they once had. Hence, some of the anger you might hear is driven by unjustified resentment at losing out personally, not justifiable criticism of government policy or ideology.

I had an interesting conversation with a professional who worked in a Canadian owned gold mine and refining operation. He was an avid supporter of Trarore, seeing him as just what the country needs. His employer had been forced to increase government shares in the business from 10 to 30% and over time ensure a greater level of employment of Burkinabés. Now the vast majority of employees are locals, including at management level. Although his company had always been well run in his view, he explained that government environmental monitoring is now much more effective. Gold refining is a notoriously toxic process, with a high risk of polluting the water table. In the past, less reputable firms just paid off inspectors to save money on preventing pollution but now, environmental regulations are rigorously enforced.

Several people mentioned the Faso Mebo initiative (translated as Building Faso), launched by Trarore and resembling a similar scheme created by Sankara. Citizens can volunteer to help on projects organised by the government, typically smaller infrastructure works and improving the urban environment. By all accounts it has been well supported. The only dissenting voice I heard, felt it was just a way of getting people to do work for nothing but clearly many take pride in contributing to improving the nation in such a way.

While Trarore’s recent rejection of democratic government caused much consternation in Western media, it was barely worth a mention among those I spoke to. Some even saw it as a necessary step in resolving the deep seated problems affecting the nation or just another western cultural imposition. Many simply have enough to struggle with in everyday life to be particularly concerned about it, especially when they can see the government actively working to improve the lives of people such as themselves. There’s little doubt that for the moment Trarore would easily win an election anyway. In my view, it is more of potential concern in the longer term. When he first came to power, Trarore did talk of an eventual return to democracy, so this change demands justification. Simply rejecting western style democracy isn’t problematic in itself. The West has done quite enough to discredit it’s values and systems, particularly more recently in its shameless support for the genocide in Palestine and illegal war in Iran. Precolonial Africa had numerous sophisticated systems of rule with checks and balances to limit excessive power of leaders. Given all his talk of African values and reclaiming sovereignty, adopting something based on these traditional systems could well be widely accepted by the people. At the moment it’s not clear what the longer term implications are in this respect. What if, for example, after a couple of years, much of the population remains dissatisfied with their conditions and blame the president?

If government investments in infrastructure and the economy bear fruit and many more see noticeable improvements in their quality of life, it is likely that many of the detractors will be won over. Winning the battle for stability against extremist elements will be crucial in achieving the gains the country needs and there’s little sign that the external powers funding these groups are going to give up easily. Unlike Mali, where extremist Tuareg groups fighting for independence have at least some sympathisers in their communities in parts of the North, the jihadists in Burkina Faso have little real support, even though they have managed to co-opt some, such as dissatisfied Fulani herdsmen, angry at the marginalisation of their traditional practices. Islam in West Africa has always been relatively moderate on the whole and tolerant of other religious practices. For most, the extremist forms of Islam practiced by those trying to overturn the government is seen as an Arabic imposition, not compatible with local culture. The continuing improvement in the economy and individual’s lives will only help deprive these groups of what support they have.

Whilst I can’t claim that my efforts here are up to the standard of scientific polling, I’m confident that I have at least gained a valuable snapshot of opinions in the country. I made a point of asking people about family outside of Ouagadougu where possible, to at least get a sense of views elsewhere. The sense of hope for the future, conveyed by many, even those whose individual lives may not have benefited from Trarore’s policies, cannot be simply dismissed. There’s no doubt that there’s a long way to go before everyone’s quality of life is substantially improved but for the first time in a long time, there’s a sense that things are going in the right direction. No doubt it won’t happen quick enough for some and this will be Trarore’s big test after the security situation.