Burkina Faso's Ibrahim Traore: What’s True? What’s False? The Cult Surrounding the Young Leader

Why has Burkina Faso's military leader, CAPTAIN IBRAHIM TRAORE garnered such adulation online? That's a question for renowned investigative journalist DAVID HUNDEYIN who replies that the young leader, he's 37, symbolises a break from the status quo and offers hope to a youthful continent whose people yearn for a hero.
Who, or what, is behind the social media tsunami that surrounds CAPTAIN TRAORE? We ponder whether the multitude of social media posts extolling his often other-worldly virtues are true or fake and what effect they have. Could they actually undermine TRAORE?
David suggests the Burkinabe authorities would do well to take a firmer control of their own narrative.,
We wonder why we've heard so few Burkinabe voices on the matter - most of the commentary is coming from outsiders, very few of whom have actually been to Burkina Faso.
Impressive claims are being made about the rule of CAPTAIN TRAORE, like ending all taxation and undertaking extensive road building. But what about the security situation? Reports suggest that government control extends to just a third of the country. The rest, reports say, is being run by various Islamist groups with many people displaced from their villages.

What is needed, says Patrick, is robust reporting by independent journalists from inside Burkina Faso to establish the facts. David says objectivity in journalism does not exist - everyone has an interest, a bias.

And Donu raises the inherent dangers of a cult of personality.
David says there are limited benefits from democratic systems of government in Africa - economic freedom is what counts most.

Martine Dennis is Founder and Host of Africa Here and Now
Patrick Smith is Editor of Africa Confidential
Donu Kogbara is a journalist and commentator based in Nigeria.

We were talking with DAVID HUNDEYIN, Editor of West Africa Weekly