Ouagadougou (AFP) – Burkina Faso President Roch Marc Christian Kabore has ordered former prime minister Isaac Zida to return to the country where he is accused of corruption.
Kabore warned Zida — a former military officer who took power after president Blaise Compaore was ousted by a popular uprising in October 2014 — that he may consider his absence from the country as “desertion.”
After leaving government last year, Zida went to Canada to be with his family who moved there when he was still in office.
An official report from the country’s anti-corruption authority accuses him of misappropriation of public funds and illegal enrichment.
“We have given a leave of absence to prime minister Zida which expired on February 19,” Kabore told reporters on his return late Sunday from a summit of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).
“I have always said… that it is extremely essential and mandatory that he (Zida) return because when you take on responsibilities at a certain level, you have a duty to report, a duty to explain.”
He did not however set a deadline for Zida’s return.
Zida, a former number two in the presidential guard, took power on November 1, 2014. following Compaore’s ouster.
But following pressure from political parties and the international community he ceded power later that month to retired diplomat Michel Kafando, who was named transitional president.
Kafando in turn named Zida as his prime minister.
The transitional regime was replaced by Kabore’s government which was elected in November last year.
Asked whether Burkina Faso has made a formal request to Canada to extradite Zida, Kabore said, “We are not there yet.”
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