Thomas Isidore Noel Sankara was born on December 21, 1949. He was the third of Joseph and Marguerite Sankara’s ten kids. He was a Pan-Africanist, Marxist-Leninist, and military officer from Burkina Faso. In addition, he presided over Burkina Faso from the time of his coup in 1983 until his removal and assassination in 1987.
The ministers’ official service vehicle became the Renault 5, which was then the least expensive car available in Burkina Faso, after he sold off the government’s fleet of Mercedes vehicles.
He prohibited the use of government chauffeurs and first class aircraft tickets, and he lowered the pay of wealthy state employees, including his own.
He was against foreign aid because “He who feeds you, controls you,” he claimed.
He advocated against what he called the neocolonialist infiltration of Africa through Western trade and finance in venues like the Organization of African Unity.
He demanded that African countries form a unified front to cancel their foreign debt. He maintained that the oppressed and destitute were under no obligation to pay back the affluent and powerful.
Sankara transformed the army’s supply depot in Ouagadougou into a publicly accessible state-owned supermarket (the first supermarket in the country).
He made wealthy civil officials contribute one month’s salary to government initiatives.
He objected to using the air conditioning in his office, claiming that only a small number of Burkinabés could afford such a luxury.
He reduced his monthly salary to $450 while serving as president and downsized his belongings to just a car, four bikes, three guitars, a refrigerator, and a malfunctioning freezer.
He mandated that all state employees dress in a traditional tunic made by Burkinabe tailors from cotton that was woven locally.
He was well known for running alone through Ouagadougou while wearing his track suit and for posing with his mother-of-pearl pistol while wearing customized military fatigues.
There are seven million Thomas Sankaras, Sankara retorted when asked why he didn’t want his photo displayed in public spaces like previous African leaders did.
Being an versatile guitarist, Sankara wrote the new national anthem.
The phrase “Africa’s Che Guevara” frequently refers to Sankara.
One week prior to his own death on October 15, 1987, Sankara delivered a speech honoring and commemorating the 20th anniversary of Che Guevara’s 9 October 1967 execution.
