Jokes, Not Votes

22 November: Burkina Faso general election

Abdou Wahabou Harouna Kaboré, a comedian who goes by the name El Présidente, pulled his yellow coupe up outside of a sports stadium in an affluent suburb of Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. Perched on a cinderblock on the shoulder of the road, he waited for his cameraman, who happened to be tied up filming a real presidential candidate. 

When Burkina Faso’s major political parties announced their presidential hopefuls and parliamentary aspirants in the elections scheduled for November 22, Kaboré decided he would do the same. About a month ago, El Présidente launched a joke campaign, the Fédération des Êtres Sensibles et Sincères pour l'Érection de la Société (émergence sociale), which translates as the “Federation of Sensitive and Sincere Beings for the Erection of Society (social emergence).”  Its acronym, FESSES, means “butts” in French.

Sunlight. Camera. Action.

Bracketed by a buff, fake security guard and overly enthusiastic supporter, El Présidente sauntered forward like a celebrity in a sparkly purple jacket. Cocking his neck out, Kaboré spoke in the slow, heavy accent of a former presidential candidate Mathias Sorgho who, during his 2012 campaign, had been subject to much ridicule because of his poor pronunciation of French words. His shoot, outside the Afro-futurist spaceship-like stadium was interrupted by men riding in on motorcycles and bored female security guards questioning the comedian’s authority to be there.

“On va tout baiser,” he said, pronouncing the s like a z, before being corrected by a fake journalist on the set, who told him it is pronounced “baisser,” with more of a serpent’s hiss.  The slight difference in pronunciation makes a big difference in French. Baiser means “fuck.” The translation of El Présidente’s first iteration is “We are going to fuck everything,” as opposed to “We are going to lower everything.” El Présidente promised lower prices for basic food items like maize and manioc and free hotel rooms for adulterous husbands. The mock campainers punched their fists into the air and shouted, “FESSES.”

Unlike sincere campaigns by comedians in places like the Ukraine and Iceland, Kaboré’s presidential one has a cynical and possibly exhausted message. Kaboré participated in a 2014 uprising that saw the overthrow of Blaise Compaoré, the nation’s leader of 27 years. Many were tired of the rising cost of basic goods, and Compaore’s failure to deliver on his promise to give poor urban dwellers in major cities parcels of land and improve education and health care, Kaboré says. When Compaoré attempted to amend the constitution to run for a third term and the national assembly appeared to be on the verge of endorsing the move, demonstrators took to the streets and burned down the assembly in revolt. The former president remains in exile in neighboring Ivory Coast.

Among the demonstrators was current president Roch Marc Christian Kaboré (no relation to the comedian) who mobilized his supporters. Years earlier, he had split the Congress for Democracy and Progress with other senior party members, amidst rumors that Compaoré would not allow him to run for president. 

Kaboré the comedian was among the protestors. He was fired on by a police cannon with hot water during the protests and street battles between police and protestors that claimed 33 lives. 

“The politicians don’t play their role; they are guided by ass, and they are corrupt,” Kaboré told The Ballot in an interview. “The majority are liars ….. It’s the same as before.” He continued, “I want to remind people that politicians often don’t keep their promises and they should be careful when they vote,” he said. “People should vote on the policies and programs and individuals.” His Facebook page contains regular updates about his candidacy.

Much has changed in Burkina Faso since the uprising known as the “popular insurrection.” The deepening security crisis that spilled over from Mali has meant that armed and jihadist groups affiliated with groups like Islamic State and Al Qaeda destabilize the country. An estimated 1,700 civilians have been killed in the first half of this year. Attacks have increased 7,000 percent between 2018 and 2019. The military has been accused of extrajudicial killings across the country. Threats from the United States to pull military aid due to alleged abuses could mean an already poorly equipped force would have even less support. Volunteer Defense Forces, armed community groups who have been recruited throughout conflict-affected regions, and have according to many accounts worked independently and alongside official security forces and been accused of abuses and killings. In the meantime, people in some parts of the country  are starving and many have been forced to flee their land. The region of Soum, in the north of the country, has been particularly affected by both conflict and hunger. Displaced people live in camps in major cities and fill the homes of families or hosts 

President Kaboré, a former banker and ally of Compaoré, promised to tackle corruption when he was first elected with the party The People's Movement for Progress (MPP) in 2015. But his government has been marked by high-profile scandals. The most notable of these was the Charcoal Affair, in which a minister and gold mining company were accused of burying gold in bags of charcoal and trafficking them into neighboring Ivory Coast to avoid taxes. This scandal underscores a fact that angers most Burkinabés: Their country is filled with gold reserves, but the wealth of the land does not trickle down to its people.

November’s election brings opposition: Zephirin Diabré, a former finance minster who served under Compaoré’s government and was one of the founders the Union for Progress and Change, will run in November, promising to fight against corruption, as will Tahirou Barry, a 43-year-old candidate of the Peul ethnic group that has been particularly attacked by both by volunteer security forces and the military in Burkina Faso’s war against terrorism. Human rights lawyer Ambroise Farama, who represents many of the families of the disappeared and executed, will try his luck in the race as well running under the banner of the party he formed called the Organization of African People. Compaoré’s weakened former party, the Congress for Democracy and Progress, has put forth Eddie Komboïgo, a former businessman. Although Compaoré remains in the Ivory Coast, he still has influence over the party. Despite ruling over the country for 27 years and maintaining his power using a presidential military regiment, the ongoing insecurity has sparked a nostalgia for Compaoré.

Many worry they will not be able to vote at all, particularly in the villages in the country’s North and East, where attacks have occurred. A recent amendment to the electoral code, passed by the assembly, means that regardless of the voter turnout, the results will be deemed legitimate and binding. However, a citizens’ group is contesting the legitimacy of the law. The election commission is headed by Ahmed Newtown Barry, a former investigative journalist and friend and colleague of the late editor Norbert Zongo, who was assassinated under Compaoré’s regime.

Kaboré has built a career imitating Burkina Faso’s former presidents, including the sitting one. He does stand-up comedy shows, but his main audience comes from the videos he posts on Facebook and YouTube. He has never been reprimanded by state authorities. But amendments to the penal code inhibit the ability of journalists to report on the conflict and ordinary citizens to publish words deemed to “demoralize the security forces.” The arrests of two high-profile critics of the government, including a widely known Franco-Beninoise Pan-African activist Kemi Séba, point to worrying trends.

For Kaboré, as for many Burkinabés, the figure of the revolutionary Pan-Africanist leader Thomas Sankara, who ruled over the country for three years from 1984 up until his assassination in 1987, still looms large. In that time, he sold off the state-owned Mercedes and drove around in a Renault and attempted to create more of an egalitarian country that wasn’t dependent on foreign food and products and humanitarian handouts.  “He had the will to build Burkina and not only Burkina, but Africa also,” Kaboré said. Sankara is the only president the comedian has never tried to imitate.

As Burkina Faso heads into uncertain elections and the hopes of the popular insurrection seem distant, Kaboré like many of those who participated in the uprising has no regrets. “I demonstrated with others because we needed change,” he said. “If I had the chance again, I’d do it again,” he said. In the meantime, he will take to the streets and continue a campaign without trying to win.