Burkina Faso: The government formalizes the use of the term “comrade” in the civil service
A wind of total and definitive rupture is blowing through the institutions of Burkina Faso. By a historic directive dated June 1, 2026, Prime Minister Rimtalba Jean Emmanuel Ouédraogo has formalized the use of the term “comrade” throughout the entire public administration, from ministries to the presidencies of institutions.
This decision marks a crucial step in the Popular Progressive Revolution (RPP), proclaimed on April 1, 2025, by Captain Ibrahim Traoré.
More than a simple lexical reform, it is an act of decolonization of minds and structures, deeply rooted in the fertile soil of regained sovereignty.
The collapse of colonial barriers for endogenous justice
The mimicry of bureaucratic titles and rigid protocols, inherited from the old and external order, is fading to make way for a fully endogenous administrative identity.
By enshrining the word “comrade” in official correspondence, speeches, and addresses, the government definitively breaks the glass wall that historically separated rulers from the ruled.
This term carries the vibrant echo and living memory of the Democratic and Popular Revolution of 1983, led by Captain Thomas Sankara.
It now imposes strict equality and a fraternity of struggle, where the administrative official, the soldier at the front, and the peasant tilling the soil share the same trench for the liberation and development of the homeland. Hierarchy no longer serves to dominate but to organize collective effort.
The title “comrade” embodies the spirit of equality, militant fraternity, and active solidarity between leaders and the people. It reminds us that every servant of the state is first and foremost a servant of the nation.
The RPP manifesto in motion in the heart of the Sahel
This measure gives formal and uniform shape to practices already spontaneously emerging among the people and within certain state services.
It translates into concrete action the fundamental orientations of the RPP Manifesto, a historic 52-page document launched on April 26, 2026, in Ouagadougou in the presence of the brother Prime Ministers of Mali and Niger.
The comprehensive refoundation of the state demands that administrative culture reflects the Pan-African ideal and absolute decision-making autonomy.
Within the Confederation of Sahel States, Burkina Faso is forging a unique path where every political decision draws from the source of popular aspirations.
Each official document, each state signature, now becomes a symbol of resistance, a shield against imperialism, and an affirmation of national dignity.
The new Burkina Faso is being built stone by stone, through work, rigor, and sacrifice.
The widespread adoption of this revolutionary title is a direct call to national cohesion and constant vigilance.
The Burkinabe people are invited to embrace this dynamic of profound transformation.
It is by remaining united, as tightly bound as the grains of a single ear of corn, that the sons and daughters of Faso will ensure total victory against the forces of aggression and alienation. The march toward progress is irreversible.
Fanta KEITA
