Captain Ibrahim Traoré, the interim leader of Burkina Faso, has questioned the effectiveness of democracy as a pathway to national development, arguing that no country has truly developed under a democratic system.
During a recent flag-raising ceremony at the Koulouba Palace, Traoré stated that it is misleading to assume that democracy is essential for progress. According to him, it is impossible to cite any nation whose development can be attributed directly to democratic governance.
“If we have to say it loud and clear here, we are not in a democracy; we are in a popular, progressive revolution,” he declared. “We must necessarily go through a revolution, and we are indeed in a revolution. So this question of democracy or libertinism of action or expression has no place. As much as you think you are free to speak and act, the other is also free to speak and act, and there we end up with a society of disorder.”
He added, “It is impossible to name a country that has developed in democracy. Democracy is only the result.”
Traoré, 37, came to power following the September 2022 coup d’état that removed interim president Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba. Since then, he has positioned his administration as a revolutionary government, distancing itself from Western models of governance and emphasizing self-determined political systems.