Burkina Faso’s interim leader, Captain Ibrahim Traoré, has declared that democracy is not a necessary condition for a nation’s development, stating that no country can truly claim to have achieved progress solely through democratic governance.
Speaking during a recent flag-raising ceremony at the Koulouba Palace, Traoré dismissed the relevance of democracy to Burkina Faso’s current political direction, describing the system as incompatible with the realities of the West African nation.
“If we have to say it loud and clear here, we are not in a democracy, we are in a popular, progressive revolution,” Traoré stated.
“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.”
According to him, what many understand as democracy only breeds disorder when individual liberties go unchecked.
“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 said.
He further argued that no country has developed because of democracy, claiming that “democracy is only the result” of development—not its catalyst.
Traoré, 37, came to power following a military coup in September 2022 that overthrew interim president Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba. Since then, he has positioned himself as a vocal critic of Western models of governance, advocating instead for what he calls a “people-powered revolution.”
His comments are likely to deepen the ideological divide between Burkina Faso’s transitional government and its Western allies, many of whom continue to push for a return to constitutional rule in the Sahel region.
