Since Captain Ibrahim Traoré assumed power, Burkina Faso has been undergoing a profound transformation marked by an increasingly centralized governance structure. While official discourse emphasizes sovereignty and strategic reorganization, the socioeconomic reality tells a different story. Behind the rhetoric of rupture, the Burkinabe people—particularly those in the commercial sector—are sinking into silent distress, trapped in a spiral of restrictions where consultation has been replaced by unilateral decree.

The latest example of this top-down governance is the ongoing standoff between the Ministry of Commerce and motorcycle vendors. New measures issued by authorities to strictly regulate the sale, pricing, and use of two-wheeled vehicles have dealt a heavy blow to a sector already struggling to survive.

In Burkina Faso, motorcycles are not a luxury; they are the backbone of urban and rural mobility and the source of income for thousands of families. By targeting price regulation and restricting sales conditions and the circulation of certain vehicles, the military regime is striking at a vital sector.

On the markets of Ouagadougou and Bobo-Dioulasso, discontent is palpable though subdued. Traders describe a complete breakdown of social dialogue. “Previously, there were negotiation frameworks. Today, orders come from above and must be obeyed without question. If you object, you are labeled unpatriotic,” says a major importer who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Since Captain Traoré took power, economic actors describe a climate in which a single will is imposed on the nation. This excessive centralization creates chronic unpredictability for businesses. Economic operators find themselves caught between rising import costs and global market realities on one side, and strict state directives setting selling prices below the break-even point on the other.

The consequences of this authoritarian policy are immediate: financial asphyxiation for small resellers unable to absorb the mandated margins, risking bankruptcy; artificial shortages as some importers suspend orders, threatening supply; and legal insecurity as new circulation restrictions, officially justified by security concerns, paralyze the transport of goods in several localities.

The suffering of the Burkinabe people, especially the merchant class, is now expressed in hushed tones. In the context of a strict military transition, fear of reprisals stifles public grievances. Yet economic reality is stubborn: prosperity cannot be decreed by simple orders.

By seeking to control everything from supply chains to citizens’ daily usage, the transitional government risks breaking the fragile economic balance that keeps the country afloat. For two-wheeler traders, the bitter conclusion is that the much-vaunted economic sovereignty increasingly resembles suffocating state control.