By Stephen Apolima | May 17, 2025 | Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso
In a bold assertion of Pan-African unity, Ghana joined Burkina Faso to immortalize the revolutionary legacy of Captain Thomas Isidore Sankara, in a ceremony that resonated with the spirit of resistance against neocolonialism, militarised foreign interference, and external economic domination.
Leading Ghana’s delegation on behalf of the Commander-in-Chief of the Ghana Armed Forces and President of the Republic, H.E. John Dramani Mahama, the Minister for Defence, Dr. Edward Omane Boamah, participated in the official inauguration of the Thomas Sankara Memorial Park—a towering tribute to the revolutionary leader and his twelve comrades assassinated on October 15, 1987.
The event was not merely a commemoration; it was a continental declaration of self-determination. The Burkinabè government described the fallen revolutionaries as “not dead, but alive in the hearts of a liberated people.” The Memorial Park—anchored by a monumental statue—serves not just as a space for reflection but a symbol of defiance against the chains of neocolonialism and the creeping return of foreign militarism in African affairs.
Ghana’s deep-rooted revolutionary heritage was also honoured. The Burkinabè authorities announced that a Ceremonial Street in Ouagadougou will be named after the late President Jerry John Rawlings, in recognition of his Pan-African credentials and solidarity with Sankara’s anti-imperialist stance. It was a rare moment where history, ideology, and political will intersected to chart a renewed continental vision.
Accompanying Dr. Omane Boamah were Muntaka Mubarak, Minister for the Interior and National Security; Felix Kwakye Ofosu, Minister for Government Communication; Dr. Zanetor Agyeman-Rawlings, Chairperson of the Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliament and daughter of President Rawlings; Lt. Col. Larry Gbevlo Lartey (Rtd.), Ghana’s Special Envoy to the Alliance of Sahel States; Naval Captain Asaase Gyima (Rtd.), former National Security Advisor under Rawlings; and Mr. Kofi Totobi Quakyi, former Minister of National Security. These figures, each deeply connected to Ghana’s national security architecture and revolutionary tradition, stood as living bridges between the Rawlings era and Ghana’s contemporary commitment to Pan-African sovereignty.
Their presence sent a clear message: Ghana stands in unflinching solidarity with Burkina Faso and the broader Sahel Alliance in resisting the strategic reoccupation of Africa by external powers under the guise of counterterrorism and development.
Dr. Boamah reflected on the importance of “revolutionary memory as political strategy,” emphasizing that remembering Sankara and Rawlings is not an act of nostalgia, but a continental imperative in confronting 21st-century colonial encroachments dressed in diplomatic language.
His message was echoed by Burkina Faso’s Minister for Defence, Brigadier General Célestin Simporé, who hosted the Ghanaian delegation and described the moment as a “reawakening of African agency in the face of imperial retreat and regional threats.”
As West Africa experiences a tectonic shift in regional geopolitics—marked by the rejection of French military presence in Mali, Niger, and now Senegal—this rekindling of the Sankara-Rawlings legacy serves as both a warning and a blueprint. It warns against complacency in the face of modern imperial designs, and it offers a roadmap for sovereign cooperation rooted in mutual respect, revolutionary heritage, and homegrown security architecture.
The call is unmistakable: the future of Africa lies not in externally dictated pacts or security dependencies, but in African-led, African-owned, and African-defended solutions. The Thomas Sankara Memorial now stands not only as a tribute to the past, but as a burning torch lighting the path toward a truly liberated and united Africa.
ALUTA CONTINUA!
BY ANY MEANS POSSIBLE !