12-14-2017 ■ A delegation of seven staff members of COMESA secretariat landed at Bujumbura International Airport this Thursday 14 December to prepare the COMESA summit which will be held in Burundi, in the first quarter of 2018. A team of Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) staff members have (...)

12-14-2017 ■ The budget bill for 2018 provides for a budgetary independence rate of 81.2%. The Minister of Finance calls for continued economic austerity policy. “Prudent budgetary and austerity policy will be maintained for the 2018 fiscal year,” said Domitien Ndihokubwayo, Minister of Finance, in the National Assembly while presenting the (...)

12-14-2017 ■ Children’s conditions have improved since Burundi signed the African Charter on children’s Rights and Welfare. However, there is still a way to go. This was said by a Burundian civil society during the presentation of its report on the children’s rights situation in Burundi before the African Union committee (...)

12-13-2017 ■ President Pierre Nkurunziza officially launched on 12 December 2017 the campaign for constitutional referendum. Opposition politicians and human rights activists accuse him of violating the Arusha Peace and Reconciliation Agreement and the Constitution in force. “We have come here to explain the content of the constitution amendments to the (...)

12-13-2017 ■ During a media synergy on the achievements of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) three years after its establishment, Bishop Jean Louis Nahimana, its chairman has recognised this Tuesday that the commission faces several challenges. The National Commission for the Truth and Reconciliation was created in December 2014 with (...)

12-11-2017 ■ The Finance and Interior Ministers have released an ordinance on December 11 over the collection of the population’s contribution to 2020 elections. A corruption watchdog describes the measure as illegal. The contributions to the 2020 electoral process are classified into three categories namely non-salaried citizens who live on agriculture (...)

12-11-2017 ■ For the 2018 fiscal year, domestic resources in the general state budget account for 69.6% against 30.4% of donations. Tax revenue constitutes 60.9%, non-tax revenue 5% and exceptional revenue 3.6%. OLUCOME denounces very high taxes. The recently submitted budget bill for 2018 is judged as unrealistic and unreliable by (...)

12-11-2017 ■ The facilitation office has finally concluded that an agreement will not be signed at the end of this session. The points of divergence will be submitted to the summit of the EAC Heads of State. The facilitator had presented a very ambitious project: two weeks of dialogue to reach (...)

12-08-2017 ■ The International Anti-Corruption Day 2017 will be celebrated this Saturday 9 December while Burundi is still threatened by corruption. The ministry of good governance urges the population to get involved in the fight against it. Serges Ndayiragije, Minister of Good Governance says corruption still hinders the country’s development despite (...)

12-07-2017 ■ Burundi is looking into the adoption of a pharmaceutical bill and establishment of a food and medicine regulatory authority to be in line with EAC standards. Health professionals and pharmacists say this will improve drug regulation. The bill comes to replace a decree existing since 1980. The later presents (...)