Today in Burkina Faso 14 men went on trial for the 1987 assassination of Thomas Sankara. Sankara was shot in the course of a coup organized by Capt.

 

2/ @NationAfrica published a number of editorials & reports on Sankara's murder. Here's the front page from 17 Oct. Kenyans were at the time engaged in a simmering debate over Daniel Moi's dictatorship & over the role of revolutionary ideas in public life.

 

3/ Here's an editorial from one Brian Nyamai, arguing that political change by military means leads to dictatorship & misgovernment. 'The Sandhurst Military Academy in Britain has produced more heads of state for Africa than the London School of Economics', he writes.

 

 

4/ An editorial from Chemwalo Kiprop, who argued that Sankara's effort to return land to ordinary Burkinabé was a commendable challenge to the unjust power of the wealthy. Did Kiprop have the Kenya's own ruling class in mind as he praised Sankara's campaign against the rich?

 

 

5/ Sammy Muema, of Kisumu, compared Captain Compoare to Judas Iscariot: his betrayal of Sankara was the worst form of duplicity.

 

 

 

6/ Editorialist Abihinzano Nicholas, of Mombasa, decried the offhand want in which Compaore had murdered the inspirational Sankara.

 

 7/ Editorialist A.T.S. Luvayo, of Mombasa, applauded Sankara's effort to build a more just economy. Sankara 'should be remembered by every peace loving African', he wrote.

 

 

 

 In their praise for Sankara, Kenyans could--obliquely--criticize Danial Moi's dictatorship. Sankara's inspirational leadership of Burkina Faso, & the undignified manner of his death, was an opportunity for radical comment on Kenya's vastly unequal politics.