Maurice Yaméogo
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Maurice Yaméogo (December 31, 1921 - September 15, 1993) was the first president of the Republic of Upper Volta, now called Burkina Faso, from 1959 to 1966 who dictatorially ruled the country.
Biography edit
"Monsieur Maurice" embodied the voltaic state at the time of independence. However, his political ascension did not go smoothly. As a member of the colonial administration since 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 Loi Cadre Defferre, he joined the coalition government formed by Ouezzin Coulibaly, as minister of agriculture and member of the Democratic Voltaic Movement.
In January 1958, threatened by a vote of no confidence, Coulibaly lured Maurice Yaméogo and his allies into the assembly to join the Voltaic Democratic Union-African Democratic Assembly in exchange for promises of promotion within the government. Maurice Yaméogo became his second in command, with the portfolio of the Interior, a position that allowed him to assume the role of interim head of government, after Coulibay's death in September 1958.
His rather unstable political ancestry was reinforced by circumstances. After the proclamation of the Republic of Upper Volta on December 11, 1958, he made a surprising surprise regarding the Federation of Mali, defended by Léopold Sédar Senghor. Voltaic's 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, through controversial maneuvers, Yaméogo eliminated all parliamentary opposition. The UDV-RDA was purged of its enemies and imposed a one-party system. Alto Volta found itself under a iron dictatorship even before its independence on August 5, 1960.
No longer parliamentary opposition. On December 11, 1959, Yaméogo was elected as the first president of the Republic of Upper Volta without opposition. Extremely suspicious, Yaméogo entrusted power during his absences abroad to the only European on his staff, the colonial administrator Michel Frejus.
On January 3, 1966, as a result of severe financial austerity measures, the corrupt regime in Yaméogo was overthrown by a peaceful protest organized by unions, traditional chiefs, and clergy and was imprisoned. In 1993, he died after being rehabilitated by President Blaise Compaoré.