Banfora (1983: Doomsday)

The Kingdom of Banfora is in the west of the former Republic of Upper Volta

The Kingdom appeared after the revolution and subsequent collapse of the the old Republic of Upper Volta in 1985. The Kingdom was brought into being by 36th Emperor in 1992.

It grew to prominance in the west over a period of 10 years and by 1995 had become the largest of the city states in western former Republic.

It has been approched by the new Republic to re-unite with the rest of the former Republic, up until 2012 it has resisted these approches as it has the highest quality farmland in the area and has a large quantity of trade relations with surrounding nations.

Leadership of the Kingdom of Banfora
The highest number of an individual people or tribe in Banfora are of the Mossi peoples.

The highest position in Mossi society is that of the Emperor, who is given executive power. The Emperor's role is to rule the entire population and to protect the kingdom. Today, he lives in Banfora, where the previous (and 36th) Emperor relocated to shortly after the revolutions collapse.

Second to the Emperor come the nobles, or Nakomse. The Nakomse are all from the family of the Emperor, whether they be brothers, sisters, cousins, or otherwise. In fact, all dignitaries come from the Emperor's family. The Nakomse are often assigned territories in the kingdom as governorships and rule in the name of the Mogho Naaba. As in the past, the Emperor needs the support of his Nyon-nyonse (or gnon-gnon-sse) subjects to fully exercise his power. The Nyon-nyonse are the peoples who lived in Banfora-controlled regions before the foundation of the Kingdom of Banfora.

The 37th, and current, Emperor is called Karim Ouedraogo. He was born in 1981 in Ouagadougou, the former captial of the old Republic. He rose to the Emperorship after the death of his father (the 36th Emperor) in 2004. He married Madina Haoua in 2005 they have three children, a two sons, Ousseni (born 2007) and Oumar (born 2009) and a daughter, Leila (born 2011).

Unlike many monarchies where the throne passes to the eldest child, or eldest son, in the Banforan monarchy, the current Emperor can designate a male heir before death or abdication (it does not even have to be the Emperors son, it may be a brother, or even an uncle)

In 2007 the Emperor expressed his desire that when he decides that the Kingdom should become more democratic, as such he designated his 45 year old youngest Uncle, Mahamadi Ouedraogo, Prime Minster.

He asked the new PM to draw up plans for a government that was elected by the people, along with a relevent constitution. The constitution will be based on the former USA constitution as the Emperor believes some of the best leaders of the world in the past were US Presidents Washington, Lincoln and Jefferson.

The Constitution was published in 2010.

The Emperor and Prime Minister ratified the Constitution in 2011, and the Emperor decread that elections to the House of Representatives and Senate should occur in 2012 the twentieth anniversary of the foundation of the Kingdom.

The Prime Minister annnounced the date of the election as the 22nd August 2012, the Emperors 31st Birthday.

The elections will be overseen by the West African Union Comittee for Stable and Effective Government. This is in the hope of joining the West African Union in the future.

At the same time as announcing the new Prime Minister in 2007, the Emperor also decread that education should be free to all children between the ages of 5 and 12 years old, with the hopes of expanding to include the 13-16 year olds by 2015, and that new schools should be set up thoughout the nation. The first schools opened in 2009.

Prospective Government
After the ratification of the Constitution in 2011 the division of the country into Provinces began.

By the 1st January 2012 all the new 14 Provinces had been decided on and new boundaries set up. Each Province has roughly the same population so that they can be equally represented.

Each Province can elect two Representatives to the House of Representatives (or Lower House) and two Senators to the Senate (or Upper House)

In total, the House of Representatives and Senate are made up of 28 members each.