After seizing power and deposing the Burkinabe President in a coup on January 24; Lieutenant-Colonel Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba has been declared “president” by the Constitutional Council. On the 24th of January, Lt. Col. Paul Damiba sat in a dim-lit studio, whilst the announcement was made on state television by an army officer; who said both the government and parliament had been dissolved. Damiba was trained by the US and France in Warfare and exceeded his training when he took control over power in Burkina Faso with a coup.
The Constitutional Council said that “Mr Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba, lieutenant-colonel of the national armed forces, is the president of Faso” since 24 January in a decision notified to him on Wednesday.
Also, in its session on February 8, 2022, the Council took note of the resignation of Roch Marc Christian Kaboré; from his duties as President of Faso and officially noted the vacancy of this position as of January 24, 2022.
Supreme chief of the Army Lt. Col. Paul Damiba
Mr Damiba, who is also “head of state” and “supreme chief of the army” , “will take the oath of office before the Constitutional Council”. It was however not specified on which day he will be sworn in as president; according to a judicial source who explained that it must be; “fixed by mutual agreement” between the presidency and the Constitutional Council.
The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the African Union however, already suspended Burkina Faso from their bodies, without further sanctions, asking the junta for a “reasonable” timetable for this “return to constitutional order”.
Lieutenant-Colonel Damiba has thus officially become the president of a transitional period until constitutional order is restored.
A decree by Lt. Col. Paul Damiba announced on Saturday, the creation of a 15-member commission to; “draw up a draft charter and agenda, together with a proposal for the duration of the transition and implementation modalities” within “two weeks”.
