Beware False Gods and Pretenders

In November, Kenya political analyst Nanjala Nyabola delivered a keynote speech titled ‘False Gods’ in which she asked whether African “liberators” such as Burkina Faso’s military ruler Ibrahim Traoré are merely ushering in a new wave of dictatorship.

Nyabola, a prominent critical thinker in Africa, delivered the speech at an investigative journalism conference at Wits University in South Africa.

She spoke about romanticised online narratives surrounding political figures who present themselves as saviours but ultimately punish their people.

Traoré, who grabbed power in a military coup in 2022 at the age of 34, has advertised himself as an anti-imperialist revolutionary.

Nyabola identifies the Burkina Faso leader as part of a dangerous trend of “glamourised militarism” figures in Africa who gain cult-like social media followings while cracking down on dissent, media and democratic spaces.

She subsequently asked: How can the public spot a pretender and what can be done about it?

Just last week, Traoré announced that the Burkinabé should “forget” about democracy – three months after his government dissolved all political parties.

Two months ago, German news outlet DW reported that a study by non-government organisation Human Rights Watch found that government forces in Burkina Faso are responsible for more than twice as many civilian deaths as that of militant jihadist groups over a two-year period.

More than 2.1 million people have lost their homes and almost 6.5 million need humanitarian aid to survive.

The displacement and humanitarian toll are shocking and should worry all of us.

That is why we should not celebrate leaders who torture and starve their populations while preaching pan-African unity and solidarity.

We need to be clear-eyed about the damage such dictators inflict.

Most rights enshrined in the Namibian Constitution do not exist in Burkina Faso. This romanticisation is not new.

Ugandan journalist Rosebell Kagumire warned against it last year in an article titled ‘Glamourised Militarism and Africa’s Elusive Liberation’.

“Today’s glorification and glamourisation of military leaders in Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, and Guinea – all countries with military regimes in their infancy – on our social media feeds, along with the fabricated achievements should worry anyone concerned with our struggle for liberation as a continent,” she wrote.

Fascination with Traoré and similar figures reflects a broader global trend: the rise of populist leaders amplified through social media. Donald Trump’s trajectory in the United States followed a similar pattern.
Namibia is not immune to this dynamic.

There is a growing online romanticisation of some Namibian politicians, though the danger here is populism rather than military authoritarianism.

A joke circulating on social media says Namibian politicians have become content creators chasing engagement rather than solving the country’s serious economic challenges.

Left unchecked, personality-driven politics will leave the most vulnerable at risk, champion fabricated achievements, and ultimately erode the basic principles of democracy we cherish.

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