BUJUMBURA May 26th (ABP) – The Office of the President in charge of communication and information brought together on Monday May 24, 2021 around a hundred people with online televisions on the YouTube platform, a check by ABP revealed.
In an interview with the press at the end of the meeting, the head of that office, Ambassador Willy Nyamitwe, said that in these days it has been observed the craze to create television channels on the YouTube platform by a certain number of young Burundians who have gone from ten to more than a hundred. This means that these young people are attracted by what this YouTube platform gives them as a profit, he added.
It is for that reason that the presidential office responsible for communication and information has noticed the importance of meeting with those people in order to identify the challenges they face and see what needs to be done together in order to find common ground on certain aspects, he continued to say. According to Ambassador Nyamitwe, those aspects are in particular the law on the press which is “incomplete” which excludes a certain category of people. “These people identify themselves as journalists, reason why they should have a professional press card. However, this card cannot be attributed to them if their medium is not yet approved,” he noted.
“We are not able to meet certain conditions including having a director of publications with a university level while we are able to hire them,” some of the participants who took the floor said. “We are guided by talents that are in us that we want to externalize. We want to create jobs but we do not have the possibility to hire people who could serve as editors,” they insisted. They ask to be facilitated in their work and to be recognized by the press law which, until now, governs media professionals.
In that regard, Mr. Willy Nyamitwe reassured that all those challenges will be presented to the government which will know, in turn, the best decision to be taken and the elected representatives of the people will be able to look into the issue since it has already been raised.
He further acknowledges that those young people are at least to be encouraged: “They help fight against unemployment and create jobs, which is a good thing. They are also part of the 6 priority axes including the creation of employment for young people, peace and reconciliation,” he insisted while adding that by creating this content on Burundi, most of those young people contribute to the blossoming of a positive image of the country to attract tourists and investors.
However, Mr. Nyamitwe takes issue with a certain discrepancy in language and behavior but also, at times, a certain depravity in mores that can be glimpsed through certain scenes which are broadcast which may shock or hurt