{"id":15205,"date":"2020-02-20T06:28:26","date_gmt":"2020-02-20T06:28:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.iwacu-burundi.org\/englishnews\/?p=15205"},"modified":"2020-02-23T10:32:08","modified_gmt":"2020-02-23T10:32:08","slug":"guide-of-patriotism-draft-bill-approved-despite-controversial-debate-among-law-makers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.iwacu-burundi.org\/englishnews\/guide-of-patriotism-draft-bill-approved-despite-controversial-debate-among-law-makers\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Supreme Guide of Patriotism\u2019 draft bill approved despite controversial debate among law-makers"},"content":{"rendered":"

Members of the National Assembly have analyzed and approved a draft bill governing the ranking of President Pierre Nkurunziza as a \u2018Supreme\u00a0<\/strong>Guide\u00a0<\/b>of Patriotism\u2019 despite controversial discussions, this 19 February.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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MPs approved a draft bill governing the elevation of President Pierre Nkurunziza as a \u201cGuide of Patriotism\u201d<\/p><\/div>\n

Aim\u00e9e Laurentine Kanyana, Minister of Justice who defended the draft bill in the National Assembly has said the latter has been recommended by law-makers who noticed a special and ideal reference of President Pierre Nkurunziza to patriotic matters, social cohesion and national wisdom. She also said President Pierre Nkurunziza defended national sovereignty. According to the draft bill in its Article 3, President Pierre Nkurunziza will be consulted on matters related to national independence, consolidation of patriotism and national unity. The Article 4 stipulates that a national patriotism day will be celebrated in July of each year and will be chaired by the Supreme Guide of Patriotism.<\/p>\n

During the plenary sessions, MPs have raised their concerns. MP Bernard Ndayisenga asked the main motives behind this ranking. As for MP Fabien Banciryanino, the establishment of the draft bill by a twelve-team commission wouldn\u2019t be attributed to all MPs. In addition, he said President Pierre Nkurunziza wouldn\u2019t be considered as a guide of patriotism as many cases of human rights violations were committed in his 15-year term in office. \u201cThere are also many refugees in exile while others live in dire conditions. Nothing should be considered to rank him as a Guide of Patriotism,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

MP Simon Bizimungu has said the national day established in July coincides with other national days and should have a negative impact on the state economy. In addition, the day will be chaired by the supreme guide. \u201cHow will two presidents chair the same activity,\u201d he wondered. Pascal Nyabenda, Speaker of the National Assembly said the establishment of the draft bill complies with the law. \u201cEven any MP can also suggest a draft bill in accordance with the law,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

MP Ibrahim Uwizeye, however, has said MPs should congratulate the commission that established the draft bill. \u201cThis is a good example to follow. In addition, the president elevation should inspire other presidents to achieve tangible results so that Burundians may appreciate their efforts,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The same view is made by MP G\u00e9lase Ndabirabe. He said MPs are from different political parties and their thoughts are based on their political beliefs. \u201cTheir opinions or viewpoints will change nothing in the approval of the draft bill,\u201d he said. MP Godelieve Nininahazwe added that President Pierre Nkurunziza has strongly defended national sovereignty. \u201cRemember when the whole international community was against Burundi in 2015, the President strongly defended the country and didn\u2019t betray Burundians,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Minister Aim\u00e9e Laurentine Kanyana said the establishment of the draft bill complies with the law. \u201cAll procedures have been respected,\u201d she said. She also explained that the way the President strongly defended national sovereignty was among the motives behind this elevation. \u201cHe succeeded tin governing the country without any foreign support and Burundi is now a peaceful country thanks to his efforts,\u201d she said adding that all perpetrators involved in different crimes were arrested and brought to justice. \u201cNone was killed,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The Minister said President Pierre Nkurunziza achieved so many tangible results in all sectors of the country that he deserves to be ranked as a \u201cGuide of Patriotism\u201d. Out of 108 MPs present in the National Assembly, 91 voted for the draft bill, 3 were against and 14 abstentions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Members of the National Assembly have analyzed and approved a draft bill governing the ranking of President Pierre Nkurunziza as a \u2018Supreme\u00a0Guide\u00a0of Patriotism\u2019 despite controversial discussions, this 19 February. Aim\u00e9e Laurentine Kanyana, Minister of Justice who defended the draft bill in the National Assembly has said the latter has been recommended by law-makers who noticed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":15206,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[18],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iwacu-burundi.org\/englishnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15205"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iwacu-burundi.org\/englishnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iwacu-burundi.org\/englishnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iwacu-burundi.org\/englishnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iwacu-burundi.org\/englishnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15205"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.iwacu-burundi.org\/englishnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15205\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15260,"href":"https:\/\/www.iwacu-burundi.org\/englishnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15205\/revisions\/15260"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iwacu-burundi.org\/englishnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15206"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iwacu-burundi.org\/englishnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15205"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iwacu-burundi.org\/englishnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15205"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iwacu-burundi.org\/englishnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15205"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}