Diabré is a former deputy of the National Assembly in the 1990s, a Minister of Finance, he then served a time at UNDP, and also the French nuclear group Areva. He was a fellow for a year at Harvard (where I met him for breakfast!). So he well-acquainted with the corridors of power (me!) and a formidable challenge to the Compaoré brothers. The elections of December 2 have led to big shakeups in the CDP, the party of President Compaoré.
RFI has a good interview with Diabré (see below for the link). This passage worried me.
J’ai aussi des divergences sur la manière dont la société est gérée. Le Burkina Faso a une histoire qui nous a enseigné des valeurs de travail, d’intégrité, de sobriété. J’ai comme l’impression qu’il y a un laisser-aller à ce niveau-là. Et on le voit bien dans la manière dont la corruption se développe dans notre pays, que nous ne pouvons pas accepter.
Are we back to the same old moralizing “balayeur” language of many an African opposition leader and coup leader? The whole “cleansing of society” stuff? Get more concrete M. Diabré please!
Michael Kevane 