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Ibrahim Traore Just Introduced A new Currency Alongside Other African Leaders Burkina Faso has been making waves on social media since Captain Ibrahim Traore took over the country. Captain Ibrahim Traore, who took over Burkina Faso on September 30 2022 through a coup, becoming Burkina Faso’s new president and the youngest state leader in the world, since his rise in power has brought a lot of change in his country, Burkina Faso. Leaders of Burkina Faso’s two coups in 2022 both cited insecurity and various forms of misgovernance as reasons for their military takeovers. Both promised to restore constitutional order by June 2024, as agreed in the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS)-coordinated transitional framework. The country's military leader Captain Ibrahim Traore had promised a return to democracy with presidential elections by July 2024 when he came to power. The updated 14 October 2022 Transitional Roadmap set out four main objectives for the new regime. As every president would, Ibrahim Traore had commitments as he came to power; the first was to fight terrorism and restore the country’s territorial integrity. The government reorganized the defence andsecurity forces, acquired new military equipment and recruited about ten thousand army and navy officials. He went ahead to hire about ninety thousand Volunteers for the Defence of the Homeland; although this move received mixed responses from the army and the public due to concerns over their training, supervision and long-term prospects, all of which could worsen insecurity, he still decided to go with the risk. Government also created the Patriotic Support Fund to boost citizen engagement with security efforts. Another of Traoré’s commitment was to deal with the country’s humanitarian crisis. With nearly two million people internally displaced and over thirty six thousand refugees, Burkina Faso needs about US$877 million to provide essential aid, shelter, healthcare and support. But the funding gap remains, with extremely serious consequences for those in need. Regarding the goal of rebuilding the state and improving governance, the junta passed important new legislation targeting clientelism and political patronage in the public service. Anti-corruption efforts led to the arrest of former transport minister, Vincent Dabilgou, and four others who received 11-year prison sentences for embezzlement and money laundering. This raised concerns among political parties that polls would be delayed, especially since the technical preparations haven’t started. The poor security situation could also offer a pretext to postpone the elections indefinitely.
