MUYINGA July 12th (ABP) – On a surprise visit to the Kobero border post, Muyinga province (north-eastern Burundi), the Minister of Finance, Budget and Economic Planning, Mr. Domitien Ndihokubwayo, ordered on Thursday the transfer of all customs checkers and registrants of customs agencies at the Kobero border post.
The two categories of workers are at the root of the slowness in the processing of the files of the trucks that bring the goods, said Minister Ndihokubwayo in an interview with our colleagues from the National Radio and Television of Burundi (RTNB). Minister Ndihokubwayo said he was shocked by a line of trucks waiting for no valid reason. According to him, “it is a huge loss for the country because the goods are not moving as they should”. That minister refuted the allegations of the OBR agents who tried to justify themselves that once they arrived at the border, the drivers disappeared.
He was also surprised to find only one registrant on site, despite the fact that there is a lot of work at this post. According to that minister, the customs auditors would be in complicity with the registrants in that slowness for which, they must all be transferred to give way to a new more dynamic team which will remedy the situation. The Minister in charge of Finance gave those two categories of workers a 15-day period to join new substantive positions before adding that the decision was indisputable. Asked if those customs auditors would be corrupt, Minister Ndihokubwayo said he could not say anything, stressing that it was difficult to verify but that the investigations could shed more light on what the opinion suggests.