Bureaucratic corruption in Burkina Faso is particularly rampant and it was one of the main reasons for the 2014 public uprising that toppled Blaise Compaoré, who served as the country’s president for 27 years.
Burkina Faso gained independence in 1960 from France when then-prime minister and army captain Thomas Sankara staged a successful military coup.
As leader of the newly established communist government, he consolidated his power with an ambitious development plan focused on socio-economic reform and the nationalization of natural resource extraction.
Under him, Burkina Faso descended in what was described as the usual trajectory of a “FrancAfrican” country” corruption, plunder of mineral resources, political murders, and nepotism.
[1] For years, bureaucratic corruption has persisted in the country and has affected key branches of the government such as the judiciary, public health, and education.
[9] After he fled the country, two of his ministers, Jean Bertin Ouedraogo and Jerome Bougouma, were arrested and charged with embezzlement of public funds and illicit enrichment.
By 2015, which is considered a transitional year for the country, Islamist terrorists have successfully infiltrated Burkina Faso and subsequent governments have so far failed to curb the problem.