The poorest President ever!

 Meet Thomas Isidore Noël Sankara, president of Burkina Faso. Thomas Sankara believed that his own example was vital for the success of the revolution. President lived from the salary, which he received as an army captain (450 dollars per month), his presidential salary of $2000 was transferred to the orphans. After Sankara was overthrown and killed, it turned out that his personal belongings consisted only of an old Peugeot car, which he had bought before he came to power, a fridge with broken freezer, three guitars and four bicycles. One of his government's first political innovations was public disclosure of incomes and accounts of all state officials.
Furthermore, Sankara refused to install air conditioning in his study, as he was ashamed to do it when people didn't have means for such luxury. He also refused to sanction putting up his portraits in the publics places and institutions because, as he stated, "there are seven million people like me in our country",

Sankara sold the fleet of Mercedes cars in his government and made the Renault 5 the official service car of his ministers. He also reduced the pay of all public servants, including his own and ordered a stop in the use of government chauffeurs and 1t class airline tickets. Sankara who was a Pan-Africanist to the core redistributed land from the warring landlords and gave ownership directly to peasants.  Wheat production rose in three years from 1700 kg per hectare to 3800 kg per hectare, making the country food self-sufficient. He was completely opposed to foreign aid. In his words ''he who feeds you, controls you.''  He spoke in forums like the Organization of African Unity against continued neo-colonialist penetration of Africa through Western trade and finance also calling for a united front of African nations to repudiate their foreign debt. Sankara argued that the poor and exploited did not have an obligation to repay money to the rich and exploiting.  "Thomas knew how to show his people that they could become dignified and proud through will power, courage, honesty and work. What remains above all of my husband is his integrity", said his widow,  Mariam Sankara.

In Ouagadougou, Sankara converted the army's provisioning store into a state-owned supermarket open to everyone (the first supermarket in the country). He forced civil servants to pay one month's salary to public projects.  He refused to use the air conditioning in his office on the grounds that such luxury was not available to anyone but a handful of Burkinabes.  As President, he lowered his salary to $450 a month and limited his possessions to a car, four bikes, three guitars, a fridge and a broken freezer.  A motorcyclist himself, he formed an all-women motorcycle personal guard.  He was known for jogging unaccompanied through Ouagadougou in his track suit and posing in his tailored military fatigues, with his mother-of-pearl pistol.

Improving women's status was one of Sankara's explicit goals, and his government included a large number of women, an unprecedented policy priority in West Africa. His government banned female genital mutilation, forced marriages and polygamy; while appointing females to high governmental positions and encouraging them to work outside the home and stay in school even if pregnant. Sankara also promoted contraception and encouraged husbands to go to market and prepare meals to experience for themselves the conditions faced by women. Furthermore, Sankara was the first African leader to appoint women to major cabinet positions and to recruit them actively for the military.

Sankara's administration was also the first African government to publicly recognize the AIDS epidemic as a major threat to Africa.

He was assassinated on October 15, 1987.