Addis Ababa - The 19 million people of Burkina Faso have a big and powerful voice. Their united voice and street protests recently drove their president of 27 years, Blaise Compaore, out of office and forced the country into an uncertain period of political transition.
Compaore was forced not only to give up power, but also to flee his presidential palace in October last year when he attempted to change the constitution to allow himself to stay in power for an unprecedented fourth term.
Since Compaore was overthrown, Burkina Faso has been ruled by a military government which has pledged a rapid return to civilian rule and scheduled national elections for October.
The powerful call of the Burkinabe people has now led to a senior politician at the African Union (AU) headquarters in Ethiopia giving up his day job to return to Ouagadougou to answer a call from his supporters to lead the country.
Jean Baptiste Natama, Chief of Staff in the office of African Union Commission Chairperson Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma since she took office in October 2012, has resigned and is preparing to leave Addis Ababa to contest the country’s presidential elections.
In an interview with the African News Agency (ANA) at the AU headquarters in Ethiopia, Natama was a leader with two contrasting emotions of sadness and excitement.
He is sad to leave the AU, an organisation that he has served for the past 20 years in various capacities. In 1995, he played a leading role when the then Organisation of African Unity intervened to bring peace to Burundi.
He also spent two years – from 2006 to 2007 – as head of the AU’s standby force, working with the international community to silence guns in the the Sudan, particularly the Darfur region.
“I started as Chief of Staff on the same day as Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma started as African Union Commission Chairperson. We came with a lot of energy as Pan Africanists. We trust in Africa and in Pan Africanism. For me serving the African Union has been a family matter, and I will continue to do so, hopefully as a Member State as Burkina Faso president,” says Natama.
In everything that he has done, whether it is his work with Dlamini-Zuma on the AU’s Agenda 2063 road map or making peace all over the continent, Natama says he always puts people first. And, it won’t be any different now that he attempts to assume his country’s toughest job.
“I have always done my best whenever I have been tasked to do anything for my country. We have created such a link that no matter what happens in my life, I always have my people in my heart. I am in a unique situation. Generally, politicians go to people and ask them for their support. But I was sitting here at the African Union when I was asked by my people to come home and I had no hesitation in heeding their call with great humility. I believe they know what they want and why they want me to come home.
“They are not satisfied with the leadership in the country at the moment. Those that are in power now were rejected by the people. There is a real need for change in Burkina Faso, in leadership and in governance,” said Natama.
He admits the task he has chosen to undertake comes with a “heavy burden”.
“When people ask you to come and lead them, the expectation is high, but I will try not to disappoint them and repay them for the faith they have shown in me. We have been working on the need for us to invest in the people of Burkina Faso, in their education, their nutrition and their health. We need to create the conditions for food security and invest in the infrastructure to do that, which we will do. We need to fight against exclusion in inequality in our country, and I have a vision for that,” says Natama.
Good governance is another subject close to Natama’s heart. He was permanent secretary of the Peer Review Mechanism in Burkina Faso from 2006 to 2012, which led people to give him the nickname “Mr Good Governance”. It is one of his big election tickets.
“The people of Burkina Faso are seeking good governance. I believe I am the new face and new leader they are expecting to see in the country,” he added.
His road to the presidency, however, will not be any easy one. Natama faces tough competition. One of his opponents is formidable politician Roch Marc Christian Kabore, the country’s former prime minister from 1994 to 1996, and ex-president of the Burkina Faso National Assembly, a post he held for ten years (2002-2012). However, Natama’s fiercest competition is likely to come from Zephrin Diabre, who used to work with Kabore, in opposing Compaore.
Diabre led the mass opposition movement that led to protests that forced Compaore out of office. He was leader of the coalition of political parties. Before joining the opposition ranks, he served, for a short time, in Compaore’s cabinet. He is formerly an associate administrator of the United Nations Development Programme and chaired the board of Areva, the French energy group.
ANA