By Olurotimi Oluborode
MONSIEUR MAURICE was the first President of Upper Volta now Burkina Faso. He embodied the Voltaic state at the moment of independence. However, his political ascension did not occur without difficulties.
As a member of the colonial administration from 1946, Maurice Yaméogo found a place for himself in the busy political landscape of Upper Volta thanks to his skill as a speaker.
In May 1957, during the formation of the first Upper Voltaic government instituted under the Loi Cadre Defferre, he joined the coalition government formed by Ouezzin Coulibaly, as minister for agriculture and a member of the Voltaic Democratic Movement (MDV).
In January 1958, threatened by a vote of censure, Coulibaly enticed Maurice Yaméogo and his allies in the assembly to join the Voltaic Democratic Union-African Democratic Assembly (UDV-RDA) in exchange for promises of promotion within the government.
Maurice Yaméogo rose to be his second in command, with the portfolio of the Interior, a position which allowed him to assume the role of interim head of government, following Coulibay’s death in September 1958.
His rather shaky political ascendancy was reinforced by circumstances. After the proclamation of the Republic of Upper Volta on 11 December 1958, he made a surprising volte-face with respect to the Mali Federation advocated by Léopold Sédar Senghor.
The Voltaic assembly supported Upper Volta’s membership in the Federation, but Yaméogo opted for political sovereignty and limited economic integration with the Conseil de l’Entente.
Then, by means of controversial manoeuvres, Yaméogo eliminated all parliamentary opposition. The UDV-RDA was purged of his enemies and he imposed a one party system. Upper Volta found itself under a dictatorship even before its independence on 5 August 1960.
In foreign policy, Yaméogo envied and admired the international success of his colleague Félix Houphouët-Boigny, the President of Côte d’Ivoire, who defied the anti-communists by establishing an ephemeral customs union (1961–1962) with the “progressivist” Ghana of Kwame Nkrumah.
Houphouët-Boigny nevertheless remained his closest ally and in December 1965, Yaméogo signed an agreement with him to extend dual nationality to citizens of both countries.
However, this project did not reach fruition. On 3 January 1966, as a result of severe financial austerity measures, Yaméogo’s corrupt regime was overthrown by a peaceful protest organised by the unions, traditional chieftains and the clergy. In 1993, he died after having been rehabilitated by President Blaise Compaoré.
According to his official biography, Maurice Yaméogo was born on 31 December 1921 at Koudougou, a town 98 km west of Ouagadougou, along with his twin sister Wamanegdo.
He was the son of Mossi peasants, whom he described as a “heathen family, completely given to a whole mob of superstitions.” They gave him the name Naoua Laguemba (also spelt Nawalagma) which means “he comes to unite them.”.
From a very young age, Naoua Laguemba was very interested in Christianity. This inclination resulted in a great deal of bullying from his family.
It is reported that the young Yaméogo received an emergency baptism on 28 July 1929, a year before schedule, after being struck by lightning.
The priest Van der Shaegue who performed the baptism gave him Maurice as a patron saint. His mother died three days later, supposedly from the shock. After these events, he adopted the name Maurice Yaméogo, intending to become a priest.
After spending a few years at school in his village, Maurice Yaméogo was admitted to the Minor Seminary of Pabré. On 5 September 1934, he left his family to pursue his studies.
Pabré was one of the most prestigious institutions in the country; aside from the fact that it produced most of the country’s priests, the Minor Seminary’s students also filled the very highest ranks of public and private administration.
As a result, he met many of the rising stars of Upper Volta, such as Joseph Ki-Zerbo, Joseph Ouédraogo, and Pierre Tapsoba, with whom he formed a close friendship.
But his relationships strayed far from the ecclesiastical standard. Yaméogo wanted to be a priest, but he was very keen on women and parties. In 1939, he left the Minor Seminary of Pabré, without graduating.
Professional Career
Despite failing to graduate, Yaméogo’s education allowed him to gain a public role as a shipping clerk for the French Colonial Administration. This extremely prestigious post meant success, security and prestige.
In this period, he increased his involvement with women. He became enamoured of a mixed-race woman, Thérèse Larbat, whose father refused to allow him to marry her because he was an African and was not “civilised enough” to maintain her well-being. Yaméogo was offended by this, but eventually, he resigned himself to marrying an educated woman from Koudougou, Félicité Zagré.
Together they presented themselves as the “evolved” couple of Koudougou; Félicité was the only African in the town who dressed like a European.
In 1940, as part of the World War II war effort, Yaméogo was sent to Abidjan in lower Côte d’Ivoire, a paradise for “evolved” Africans. Regular parties were held there in which Yaméogo sought to increase his social standing. He sought among other things to make many friends among the “evolved” non-Voltaic people.
In Abidjan Yaméogo was shocked by the fact that some Voltaic businessmen were illegally trafficking workers in order to supply huge plantations with workers. In Upper Volta, Maurice also worked as a clerk for the Administrative, Accounting and Finance Services (SAFC) of the French Colonial Administration.
For this purpose, he was appointed in towns like Dedougou and Koudougou. Yaméogo was later appointed the head of the CFTC syndicate (French Confederation of Christian Workers) of his corporation, and vice-president of CFTC Upper-Volta.
