Breaking – Burkina Faso – Thomas Sankara made a national hero! The Council of Ministers met this Wednesday in an ordinary session under the chairmanship of the Head of State, Captain Ibrahim TRAORE. Several important files were examined and validated for the smooth running of the Transition, according to the Government spokesperson, Rimtalba Jean-Emmanuel OUEDRAOGO. On behalf of the Prime Minister’s Office, the Council adopted a draft decree recognizing the status of Hero of the Nation to the late Captain Isidore Noël Thomas SANKARA for having marked the history and progress of our country. “This recognition follows the adoption in June 2022 of the law establishing the status of Hero of the Nation and the decree creating the National Commission for the analysis and monitoring of the files of heroes, martyrs and invalids of the nation,” the government spokesperson said. He specified that the technical committee assembled for this purpose considered that the file concerning the late Captain SANKARA met all the criteria. I say it was high time they recognize this great man of ours as such! For, guess what, during the 27 years’ reign of his companion and traitor Blaise Compaore, no one wasn’t even going to mention the case. Sankara has giving everything to our nation. We even owe him the name of our country Burkina Faso , meaning the country of the honest or upright men. The name “Burkina Faso” can also mean: Land of the proud and honest people, “Land of the incorruptible people”, and “Land of the honourable people.” For, when he came, he rejected the colonial French name Haute Volta or Upper Volta. When they asked him why he changed the name to Burkina Faso, he told them Upper Volta means nothing to us lol! Thomas Sankara was right. What the hell is Upper Volta? Because we have big rivers flowing through our country, specially the upper part of the Volta River, which has three tributaries, the Black Volta, the White Volta, and the Red Volta, then the French decided to call the country Upper Volta, and the people the Voltaic ?. You see, what people don’t understand is that, he who names you, controls you. Yup! It’s always like that, because a name is like a covenant. Consider even the Bible, when God called Abram, he later named him Abraham, and Sarai to Sarah, Jacob to Israel. It’s for a reason. Remember, when the slave masters captured our ancestors and took them to Europe and to the Americas, what did they do ? The first think they did was to change their names and rename them, right ? Why ? Because, he who names you controls and owns you. That’s why I was happy when Swaziland rejected its colonial name and became Eswatini to reflect their cultural identity. I heard India is even considering to rename their country to Bharat! They should! Anyway, Sankara was a great man! I don’t need to talk about all his achievements in his short period of 4 years in power. It’s out there on the internet! If I’m called a Burkinabè, it’s thanks to him and we are all proud of it. The man even wrote our national anthem himself, all the four stanzas, and the music was composed by his friend Patrick Ilboudo, although he himself was musically inclined! One thing I’m sure of, we Burkinabè shall be forever indebted to him for what he did for our country, the way he already paved for us to walk in, and more importantly, we shall forever remember the ultimate price he paid with his own life! Long live the sprit of Thomas Sankara! Long live Burkina Faso and long live Africa!