Opinion: When the mbuzi (goat) is overpriced…

“Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has tasked the Ministry Agriculture to explain circumstances under which Shs7.3Mn was spent on the purchase of each goat, yet the majority of the goats bought ended up dying within the first week after distribution, with auditors blaming the supplier of intentionally supplying sick & emaciated goats to Government” (…) “Steven Kajura, Project Coordinator at the Ministry of Agriculture defended the cost spent on each goat saying the goats were bought from South Africa and were of a higher pedigree explaining, “The goats were got from South Africa & Namibia, we bought high pedigree animals and that cost includes cost insurance and flight so it came to Shs7.3Mn. The exotic pedigree animals are usually very expensive, you are free to google and you will come to around the same range.”” (Parliament Watch, 04.03.2024).

When the Daily Monitor wrote a piece about goat versus sheep rearing in 2021, they most likely didn’t think it would be this relevant. Even with rising prices and inflation. The stipulations of the 2021 article is sufficient to say that the government, the Ministry of Agriculture and the Project Coordinator who bought the goats overspent money on every single transaction.

We have now heard the testimony that the government spent 7,3 million shillings per goat. In a nation where the prices depending on the age of the goat goes from 150,000 shillings to about 550,000 shillings. That’s the prices which the Daily Monitor said in 2021 and most likely has changed, but not tripled or quadrupled over the years. Even Harvest Money article on the matter from 2023 stated the going price for a one year old good crosses goes for around 150,000 to 200,000 shillings. Which all states the fact that the government paid way over price for the animals.

They should show proof of purchase and not only the words of the Project Coordinator. The proof of transactions and the imports of the goats. As this is such a wastage of public funds. The idea of paying millions per goat when they go for much less domestically. If the government was sincere about “value for money” they would have bought it from the local market. You know “buy Uganda, build Uganda”. However, that is just empty sloganeering and not modus operandi.

It is just special that the National Resistance Movement (NRM) would do things like this. Spend money like tomorrow and waste it on goats that died quickly after being distributed. They spent millions upon millions on goats and they never added any value. The goats just died and didn’t serve their purpose. That’s pure wastage of public funds and lacking oversight of the project itself. Not that is this is new either, as there are plenty of government programs that has money, but no mechanisms to safeguard a purchase. Which is what we have seen with plenty of government programs and the goats is just the latest scandal.

This isn’t even a big scandal, but a minor one, which is just a reflection of how the NRM operates. It isn’t new, but a pattern. We can just wonder who ate the money and who gained “profits” from the tender or the purchase of the goats. Because when you have such an overpriced product/item someone is skimming over the top. It just have to happen and someone acknowledge the transaction and got a cut. With this sort of money… there is gatekeepers and people who found a way to eat. That’s the reality here.

It might never be revealed, but when goats costs in the millions and they die after a short time. You know the whole deal was shady and someone earned a fortune on it. The kickbacks and the envelopes ended somewhere… it is undeniable and we can wonder where. Peace.

Opponents of constitutional change in Burundi face torture and execution: United Nations investigators (28.06.2018)

On the alleged rights violations committed in the country, the report highlights “numerous arrests” of people who called for a “no” vote in the referendum.

GENEVA, Switzerland, June 28, 2018 – Reporting to the Human Rights Council, the Commission of Inquiry on Burundi delivered its findings based on more than 380 interviews, in addition to 500 testimonies collected last year.

The dossier compiled by the three-member panel encompasses events surrounding the national referendum last month on constitutional reform which could extend President Pierre Nkurunziza’s term in office well beyond 2020.

Noting a presidential declaration made in support of his successor after the referendum, the report reiterates the view of some observers that Mr. Nkurunziza’s comments were “by no means a clear and firm commitment not to run” in future elections himself.

It also notes “difficulties” faced by international media outlets in covering events in the country amid the suspension of broadcasters including the BBC and Voice of America, following reports that were deemed “biased” by Burundian authorities.

On the alleged rights violations committed in the country, the report highlights “numerous arrests” of people who called for a “no” vote in the referendum, including members of opposition parties who were then allegedly executed or abducted.

It states that “unidentified bodies” have continued to be found “in various parts of the country” after their arrest by “individuals in police uniform” or National Intelligence Service (SNR) agents.

Victims were also targeted by the Imbonerakure — the youth wing aligned to the ruling CNDD-FDD party — whose influence is said to have risen “in the repressive machinery which has developed since 2015”.

Describing how the Imbonerakure “cover the country”, the Commission of Inquiry’s findings detail how their members inform the authorities about “real or perceived opponents in each locality”, all the while “harassing, controlling or intimidating the population”, with the approval of State officials.

This collaboration extends to putting pressure on people to collect contributions for elections in 2020, the report states, before detailing how civil servants are required to pay the equivalent of 10 per cent “or more” of their salary to an election fund.

This levy extends to households and others above voting age on an “ad hoc basis at the local level”, the report continues, citing eyewitness reports of “roadblocks set up throughout the country” by the Imbonerakure to check whether people had receipts for the tax.

Such developments have contributed to the “continuing deterioration” of the Burundian economy that has left the country’s people among the very poorest in the world, according to per capita earnings, the report continues.

Referencing the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), it states that 3.6 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance in Burundi today.

The deteriorating economic situation will be included in the Commission of Inquiry’s final report to the Human Rights Council in September.

OLUCOME: L’Agumentation Continuelle de la Dette Interieure au Burundi Sans Contrepartie au Niveau de la Production Nationale qui est en Phase de Recession (21.06.2018)

Burundi: CNARED-Giriteka – Communique (Rectificatif) – (15.06.2018)

Burundi: OLUCOME – Degradation Continuelle de l’Economie Burundaise suite au Manque des Fonds d’Investissements Contrairement aux Discours Politiques du Gouvernement qui Affirment les Realisations de Beacoup de Projets d’Investissements a Ses Propres Fonds (13.06.2018)

Burundi: Note de Service Relative a la Transition entre la Nouvelle et l’Ancienne Constitution au Parlement du Burundi (11.06.2018)

Opinion: I don’t believe that Nkurunziza will step down in 2020!

I do not believe the reports that President Pierre Nkurunziza will step down in 2020 when his “final” third term is ending. As he has already rewritten the Constitution, gotten a favorable verdict in the Constitutional Court to run in 2015 and has reason to step down. As he has consolidated all powers among himself and his closest allies. Even build a youth brigade together with police, military and agents of the government oppress, detain and kill opposition activists and leaders. Therefore, he has no reason to step down. If so, what will he become if he steps down?

Will he become a shoeshine boy on the streets of Bujumbura or merchant. Since he has been the merchant of death and destruction. He has used propaganda and misused power. Shouldn’t he be afraid of stepping down? Since he has oppressed, taken total control and gotten rid of everyone standing in his way. Doesn’t he think that someone will have his crimes challenged if he steps down?

Seems like a dream after a 13 years of nightmare. He is supposed to just deliver 15 years of darkness and lack of dim light. I have feeling this isn’t real, other people like he has promised to step down and never did. They have said they would do so if the public wanted it. However, they have lingered for decades upon decades. Rigged elections, used the military as his power-tool to put the people into submission. Also the Imbonerakure to silence his opposition together with the Police. Therefore, he has little reason step down.

If someone is rewriting the Constitution to fit him, has all powers and should be afraid of prosecution and retribution after all the ills he has done. He would earn little to step down, unless he got a villa near Yahya Jammeh in Equatorial Guinea. That is the place where he should reside and surely President Obiang will give him space, like he offered Mugabe the other day. He want the dictator gathering on the outside of the African Union and no one can blame him for trying hard to do so.

However, Nkurunziza is just doing like many others of his kind. Speaking of stepping down, but never really doing so. He will rewrite and make sure he has the office. As he is using the state and the Republic as his private enterprise. The state party is all built around him and his cult-figure. He is the hero and the one that Burundi needs.

Therefore, I don’t believe the hype. At this speed there is a need for a revolution or a coup to bring him down. It is not like the elections or the CENI is built for anyone else than him. The way things are, everyone in the authorities are his stooges and his paid cronies. There are no one else than him. It is either Pierre or nothing. Peace.

Burundi: OLUCOME – Portant Sur la Corruption qui se Developpe Exponentiellement dans la Quasi Totalite des Domaines de la vie Nationale Sans Que Les Dirigeants Burundais ne Disent Aucun Mot (31.05.2018)

Burundi: CNARED-Giriteka – Communique de Presse (27.05.2018)

Burundi : Reaction of Minister Reynders to the referendum (24.05.2018)

Belgium regrets the lack of transparency of the process of the revision of the Constitution.

BRUSSELS, Belgium, May 24, 2018 – Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Didier Reynders expresses strong concern following the referendum of 17th May on the revision of the Constitution of Burundi, the results of which were announced on Monday.

Both the majority and the opposition were eventually allowed to campaign during the official period. Belgium regrets however the lack of transparency of the process of the revision of the Constitution. This process took place in a climate of threats and intimidation symbolized by numerous arbitrary arrests of militants from the opposition, pressures on the population and grave violations of press freedom.
The revision of the Constitution may threaten the achievements of the Arusha process in terms of protection of ethnic and political minorities. It may also undermine the dialogue put in place by the mediation of the East African Community. With the risk that the current crisis could deepen.

Over the last few days, Didier Reynders raised the situation with many bilateral and multilateral partners, including the African Union and the United Nations. All are convinced that the only solution to the current crisis is an inclusive dialogue without prior conditions, and are therefore calling the authorities of Burundi to quickly show gestures of openness which would allow a reconciliation of all parts of society, and put Burundi on the track of democracy and of the rule of law.