Latter-day Saint Mayor runs for President in Mali

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Yeah Samake, candidate for President of Mali, at the FM100.3 Studio in Salt Lake City, Utah.

 

 

A visiting legislator once asked Joseph Smith Jr. how he governed so many people with such order.  Joseph replied, “I teach them correct principles and let them govern themselves.”  Joseph Smith was the mayor of Nauvoo, Illinois at the time and was later a candidate for President of the United States.  Over a hundred years later, another Latter-day Saint espouses much of the same principle-based philosophy of decentralized governance, only his name is Yeah Samake, he is currently the mayor of Ouelessebougou, and he is a candidate for President in the African country of Mali.

In this audio interview, BYU graduate Yeah Samake shares the story of his father’s vision for education which raised an entire family from hunger to prominence.  We’ll hear how his actions eliminating corruption as Mayor of a small town brought him to the attention of national leaders in Mali, and what he hopes to accomplish if elected President of Mali in April of 2012.  You’ll also learn what it’s like for brother and sister Samake and their children to be the only members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in a country with a population which is 90% Muslim.

That’s this week on The Cricket and Seagull.

 

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Mayor Samake during a television interview in Mali.
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Yeah Samake, speaking in his capacity as Mayor of Ouelessebougou, Mali.
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Map of Mali, in West Africa