Captain Ibrahim Traoré, president of the Burkinabe transition, renounced his salary as head of state. The 34-year-old president prefers to make do with his salary as a captain in the army. The decision was announced on Wednesday by the government spokesman Jean Emmanuel Ouédraogo at the end of the council of ministers.
“The President of the Transition, Captain Ibrahim Traoré, has decided to keep his captain’s salary,” says Jean Emmanuel Ouédraogo. A noble decision through which Ibrahim Traoré sets an example to “show this spirit of sacrifice that must inhabit each of the Burkinabè in the current situation of our country”.
Indeed, the Council of Wednesday was devoted to the adoption of the decree on the remuneration of the Head of State, the Prime Minister, the Presidents of institutions and members of Government.
Thus, the executive decided to repeal the decree of April 2022, issued by Lieutenant-Colonel Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba to increase the salaries of the President and members of government. In his time, Damiba had increased the salaries of government members to the point where a minister was paid more than two million FCFA. This repealed decree reinstated the 2008 decree that had set the remuneration of ministers at between 1 155 000F CFA and 1 205 000F CFA.
In addition, following in Traoré’s footsteps, the ministers decided to devote 50% of their November salaries to the National Solidarity Fund to support people in difficulty, especially those displaced by terrorism.
Since 2015, Burkina Faso has been facing a terrorist hydra that has completely weakened its security system. This situation gave rise to two military coups in the space of eight months.
Ibrahim Traoré came to power on 30 September last year in a military coup and is leading a 21-month political transition, starting on 2 October 2022, according to the regional organisations’ transition charter. On Tuesday, he reorganised the army by creating three new military regions, bringing the number of military regions to six, one new air region, bringing the number of air military regions to two, six gendarmerie regions and six force groups.
One month after he took power by force (at the end of October), Ibrahim Traoré launched the recruitment of 50,000 volunteer fighters for the defence of the fatherland (VDP, army auxiliaries) to reinforce the army in the fight against terrorism.
