Education
Educated locally, he entered the army and was sent to military school at Bingerville in Ivory Coast. His scholastic ability was so good that he was able, during his service, to do a law degree while at the Officers’ College at Saint Maixent, and qualify in financial administration at the Ecole Supérieure de l’Intendance in Paris.
Career
He also served in Indochina and Algeria before returning home to join the army of independent Upper Volta in 1961 to work in the “Intendance” there. Promoted lieutenant in 1961 and captain in 1963, he was its Director at the time of the army take-over in 1966.
With the army moving into government, it seemed obvious that the Director of the Intendance should become Minister of Finance. The 20% salary cut on all government workers imposed by Yameogo was first of all lifted, and then in effect reimposed, by a new range of austerity measures with which Garango was particularly associated.
By these measures he was able to introduce some financial order into the chaos left by Yameogo, and help the military in Upper Volta retain their prestige. He and other army officers were seen to live in austerity, which was one reason why the trade unions accepted the military’s harsh measures, and why they arc less happy under the new civil-military set up, where some of the austerity has been watered down to meet the needs of politicians.
Personality
One of the important ministers of the military regime of 1966-70 who continued in the same office in the military-civilian dual system set up in January 1971. Asa soldier and specialist in what the French military call “intendance” (army administration and finance), he was responsible for helping the Upper Volta to balance its budget, by running the country on the lines of an army barracks. In the process his name has become associated with an almost puritan austerity, known locally as “la garangose”.