

Comesa lettre du Burundi: “Objet: Report des dates du Sommet des chefs d’etat et de gouvernement du COMESA en juillet 2018” (21.05.2018)







The Government of Kenya and the Government of Uganda, should both worry about their arrangements and their growing debts, as the non-sustainable rates of debt and higher interests. As the unnatural growth of the national budget, where the lack of revenue is covered with more state debt. To cover both salaries and development projects. All of this has happen over the recent years. As more and more of the yearly budget goes to pay interest on old loans, as the old loans also mature and the rates will become more dire. As the strength of the economy isn’t going in the same rates as the loans. This is in the end a debt trap. A debt trap China has used in other countries.
Sri Lanka is the recent example, which has come into a debt trap, where the Chinese loans has become so dire, become so big and not able to recover. That the collateral for the state was to favorable lease the harbor of Hambantota to the Chinese. They had too, since they couldn’t repay the creditor from Peking. That should be realization from all the others who borrows big and think that the Chinese will not get something valuable back for their funding.
This should be a warning for the Kenyan and Ugandan counterparts, this should be a warning for President Kenyatta and President Museveni. That is if they care about the state resources, about their minerals and about the possible extractions from their republics. If they want to be debt-slaves, or lease away the crown jewels to the Chinese, because they promised favorable debt plans, that in the end put them in juxtaposition, that they cannot come out off; unless they trade away something very valuable. If that would be licenses to drill oil in Turkana or in Bunyoro.
Who knows what the end-game of these massive loans are and if the Presidents and their parties plans to repay them. Or hope that the next generation will try to invent new way of generating money. If so, then they are saved by rare luck and not by planning ahead. These loans are big and taking bigger and bigger slices of the GDP. They are going far beyond the levels of revenue and possible future forecast of funds. Therefore, the loans can only at this point benefit the ones giving them. They will get the repayments and the interests. If they don’t get that, they will take collateral and take other state entities to get their values back. The Chinese are doing that in Sri Lanka, they could easily do that with Kenya and Uganda too. They are in for the taking and ready to muscled out.
The Chinese doesn’t play and doesn’t play with money, they will recollect and they will recover the funds spent. As they are not playing games, they are really investing and hoping to get paid-in-full. They are waiting for the numbers to go from red to black. They don’t expect to loose, and if they do. They will figure other ways to collect the lost.
President Kenyatta and President Museveni should know this, but I doubt they are thinking in this direction right now. They are eating and not caring, but their states and their economist should worry. As the growing debts has a backside, not only the interests and the lack of development it creates, as they have to find bigger revenue to cover the debt and the mature loans, as they have to settle old affairs and such. They don’t go away or get deleted over nothing. They got to take charge and find a way to solve it.
The Chinese will take advantage if they start to default, if they struggle to pay, which could come, if the loans and the negative spiral of lack of revenue continues. That is if the state doesn’t find ways to repay. Than, the Chinese might take a port, might take state owned enterprise, but surely they will be paid-in-full. Peace.




If you ever where thinking that the Presidency of Pierre Nkurunziza was for the betterment of the Burundian people, you we’re terribly wrong. Now after the third term that he took for himself, counting the Arusha Peace Agreement and the Constitution. Today, the Imbonerakure and the army to intimidate and spread fear. To get the people to show up in masses to vote in favor of the President. This has been shown all over Burundi. That is the reason why the VOA and BBC was suspended during the campaigning and the referendum. The government didn’t want this out.
This is a government that want only the perfect news out. The CNDD-FDD don’t want the reality out. They want to look like perfect, like everyone is behind the President and his party. The whole state is eaten by the CNDD-FDD, the state is run by them and they are using the Imbonerakure, whose are more important than ever. They have gotten a bigger space in the Republic after the protest of 2015. When the people flee and more of the opposition leaders, and former leaders has been killed. If not like there are so many people whose been detained because they we’re against the referendum now.
This Referendum of 2018 isn’t to change the Constitution for the people, this is to sign off more terms for Nkurunziza and make it easier for him to rig the next elections. All of this is to secure him and his place. Make him the king and the rest is his peasants.
That is why this is the nail in coffin for the ideals of the Arusha Agreement of 2000 and the Constitution of 2005. Also, now after this the idea of continuing the East African Community mediation effort of President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni and H.E. Benjamin Mpaka. They should just give it up and stop it. The Inter-Burundian Dialogue has been flawed and controlled by the state, therefore, they have picked the times and stakeholders. It is just as they have been just buying time for Nkurunziza to change the Constitution in his favor. That is what is happening now. By any means necessary.
Nkurunziza are planning to rule for life, leave a legacy of blood and oppression. Pierre wants to be remembered for the toils and tyranny against his own citizens. That he did so to gain his own wealth, misuse public resource and create scarcity. You know that there is a dark side to the referendum, other than creating more terms for the President. Who already had the Constitutional Court in 2015, make a ruling in his favor, in such a way that he could run on the third term, when the President only could run twice. So laws hasn’t mattered to him in the past, so they will not now.
The Burundian population is his personal pawns, they are the ones that can be used and he can profit on. The people are the ones he needs to get personal profits, but not better their lives. Nkurunziza is now a soon a tyrant for life. He is not planning on leaving office. Pierre is planning to stay for life, use all tricks and consolidate all power within him. So that the everyone has to wait for his decrees and decisions.
Today, is just signifying it. All the way through the campaign period, that has campaigned for “no” to the referendum. They have been detained and harassed by Imbonerakura, this has been reported from districts all over the Republic. So it is not like the President hasn’t shown democratic values, but neither is this revision of the Constitution. It is made to secure him and seal his fate.
This is the end of the Arusha Agreement, the final nail in the coffin of the Inter-Burundian Dialogue. Why discuss peaceful transition and balance of power, when the President is taking it all already? There is nothing to give to the other parties and the real opposition to the President. The ones that are still alive is outside and in exile. That is because of the fear of the state, that has assassinated plenty of the opposition leaders and opposition activists in the Republic.
So a man that uses death and detaining of the opponents. Are not having political discourse and having consensus with all political stakeholders. That is a tyrant steering the wheel and deciding the path for everyone. Everyone just has to blindly follow and not questioning him. They have to stand on guard and be poetic about it.
That is why the Referendum of 2018 appearing. President Nkurunziza isn’t planning to send doves, to create a paradise, than he would believe in accountability, transparency and taxation with representation. It is not force-fed public, with a government forced in their face and they have to obey. There no other rule of law, and the state can even get rid of you if your speaking up against them. Nothing will be left behind, nothing will be left without touched and if you oppose them, expect to stop breathing or having a heartbeat.
That is what the Nkurunziza does and if people forget that, then they forget the reality of what he does. Peace.






Ten women and 11 children were among the victims of the attack by unidentified armed men on the village of Ruhamagara, in Cibitoke Province.
GENEVA, Switzerland, May 15, 2018 – Highlighting the rising tension following a recent deadly attack on a village in Burundi that left 26 civilians dead, UN Human Rights Chief Zeid Ra’ad al Hussein on Tuesday expressed concern about a possible upsurge in violence during the run-up to Thursday’s controversial constitutional referendum.
Ten women and 11 children were among the victims of the attack by unidentified armed men on the village of Ruhamagara, in Cibitoke Province, some 60 kilometres north-west of Burundi’s capital Bujumbura at around 22:00 hours last Friday.
“There are very differing accounts of whom the attackers may have been, and what the motive was,” said Zeid. “It may have been political – designed to impact on the referendum – or it may have been carried out for other reasons, including revenge. Local residents have reported the men wore military uniforms, but this does not necessarily indicate who they were. Either way, in this febrile atmosphere, it is a very dangerous development. Burundi is awash with rumours, political negotiations are deadlocked, and tensions are rising sharply in the wake of this attack, with many dreading what may happen during and after Thursday’s referendum.”
Zeid took note of the authorities’ announcement that they are launching an investigation and urged them to ensure it is transparent and effective. He also expressed his condolences to the families of the victims of Friday’s attack on Ruhamagara.
“Because of the constant stream of violations over the past three years, and this extremely controversial and divisive referendum, the actions of the authorities are viewed with considerable mistrust by a sizeable segment of the population,” Zeid said. He noted that a significant number of opposition politicians and others calling for a ‘No’ vote have been targeted for arbitrary arrests and detention by security forces, sometimes with the assistance of the notorious Imbonerakure group which supports the Government.
“Everyone will suffer if Burundi explodes into violence during or after the referendum,” the UN Human rights Chief said. “I urge the Government to live up to its responsibilities to provide the people of Burundi with peace, security and a fully functioning democracy where everyone’s human rights are respected, and the rule of law is applied equally to all. It has very little time to turn this around. While the opposition has much to oppose, it must also avoid any actions that could add fuel to the fire.”

Yep, the biggest bank and the Bretton Woods Organization called the World Bank has commended the works of President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni and his plans for added taxes. That comes from the similar institution like International Monetary Fund, that ordered Uganda to follow the Structural Adjustment Plan (SAP), therefore, the IMF that fixed more privatization without lacking investments. Are now okaying a higher rising taxes on the Republic’s citizens. This is done, while the economy is not strengthen, but with added external and internal loans. Therefore, the rise of GDP and use of loans, as well as repayments on those loans will sooner or later hurt the economy. Even with the rise of taxes. This will be start of vicious cycle where the state is issuing loans and taxes, while the revenue is used to repay loans, not development. It is basically. But before I go into the deep of the part of the troubling take from the World Bank. Let me just show you quickly the result of the SAP and their advice there.
“The studies also make it clear that for SAP-type policies to have a chance of success, certain preconditions are necessary. The public sector had certain social responsibilities that the current framework has pushed it out of but without “a proper handing over” to the private sector. The assumption and hope were that the market would fill the gap left by the retreating state. Clearly this has not happened. There is therefore need for Government either to retain certain key social sectors, or only hand them over to the private sector only when the latter is ready to effectively take them over. Clearly non-profit making aspects of social responsibility cannot and do not get taken over by the private sector. For poverty to be reduced there are certain social responsibilities or even whole sectors that can only effectively be handled by the public sector. Welfare systems and subsidies to farmers in the developed world attest to the need for the retention of these key areas by the public sector. Therefore a policy that proscribes such a hand-over must also ensure that it is done in a verifiable manner so that the private sector can be held to account. Civil society has in the past tried to fill the gap but this has been done in an ad hoc manner” (Kevin Akoyi Makokha – ‘STRUCTURAL ADJUSTMENT PARTICIPATORY REVIEW INITIATIVE (SAPRI) – UGANDA COUNTRY REPORT: A synthesis of the Four SAPRI Studies’ September 2001).
So, when the last system from the World Bank and IMF was introduced the system and the government wasn’t ready to privatize, however, that didn’t stop them or the government to do so. Especially since the funds and loans at the time came with the hitch of doing so. Therefore, the troubles with the privatization and the lacking oversight is also partly because of these programs subsidized by these organizations. That is why the World Bank and IMF should be more careful professing what sort of thing would be genuine and sincere, since they have messed up before. It isn’t only the State House who has messed up, he has gotten help and followed the procedures of these mechanisms. If not, he wouldn’t be able to eat such vast amounts of donor funding in the past. This is well-known, but the lack of oversight, is because of the will of wanting to have control and a say in everything. That is why the letter from the President to Minister of Finance, is the reason for the new levied taxes. So, if you wonder why I have distrust to the World Bank and IMF, it is because of their history and that the public is paying for it, because their impact on the governments for the reasons. That these states should be guinea-pigs for the economy belief of trickling down economics, even as the results has begged differ if it really drips back into the system again. Which it doesn’t because the ones that gets a lot want to keep it and get some more. No dole it out to anyone they can find.
Here is what the World Bank stated today: “In the special section of the Update, the report analyses how Uganda could raise more domestic revenues to support its development. Uganda’s tax system is one of the most modern in the region, but revenue collections, at 14 percent of GDP, are low, and way below its tax potential. Tax avoidance and evasion, partly resulting from generous tax exemptions to investors, weak tax administration, and a large informal sector (now at 80 percent), pose challenges to increasing revenues. Up to 5 percent of GDP is lost annually in tax leakages. Personal income tax contributes roughly 18 percent of GDP compared to up to 40 percent in developed countries. VAT collections amount to 4 percent of GDP, but would rise to 6 percent if there were no exemptions. The report suggests that Uganda could widen its tax base by tapping into areas that are outside the tax net; applying tax instruments correctly and fairly; improving efficiency, transparency and accountability in tax administration; and delivering better public services” (World Bank – ‘Improving Taxation to Finance Uganda’s Development’ 15.05.2018).
Therefore, the World Bank likes the idea of adding more tax on the Mobile Money transactions and the movement of digital cash, as well as on Airtime and other needed things. The ones that hasn’t a bank-account or the ability to fund or even try to get a loans from the banking system. Are okayed by the World Bank as possible targets for taxes. This isn’t transparent, but making it more expensive to be poor, as the rates to transmit and the use mobile money will come. The companies whose use this method will bill the users, they will not take the hit. The same with all the traders and the importers of all the other items that was on the lists of the newly taxed items.
I doubt these new taxes will do any good, it will just be more funds for the elites, the NRM and the President to eat. They are not delivering government services with the trillions of shillings they are using now. They are billing up to their asses and spending rampant, without having the revenue. That is why the rising debts are there. Instead of living frugal and thinking of the future, the NRM and President Museveni are eating like there is no tomorrow!
State House, the President and the Cabinet are eating heavy, they are not delivering, they have no plans to do so. If so, they give locally when needed, but the lack of transparency and accountability, is the reason for missing funds. Recently even the documents from the GAVI Funds was taken from the Ministry of Health. Therefore, a government who cannot be trusted with funds giving donations to help the sick, how can we believe the tax put on Mobile Money will go to roads or teachers?
I doubt that, I am not that naive, this NRM has proven for 32 years, that they are eating and not caring. The World Bank can commend and praise. While I condemn, until they prove that they money are delivered to the schools, that the teachers have their salaries and the civil servants are properly paid. Not just hiring some random Cubans to fix the issues for a short time. That is not how to build a national health care system. That is how to mock the ones you already have. Peace.



