GITEGA July 31st (ABP) – The Minister of the Interior, Community Development and Public Security, Mr Gervais Ndirakobuca, together with the Minister in charge of National Solidarity, Mrs. Imelde Sabushimike, asked on Thursday the governors and the communal administrators to conduct a vast campaign to raise awareness of the people on their massive participation in the Local Solidarity Day scheduled for August 6, 2021 on the eve of the Communal Day set for August 7 of this year.
He made that appeal at the opening of the work of the exchange meeting on the modalities of organization of the local solidarity day, held in Gitega in favor of those administrative authorities and members of the national committee and those of the offices of the provincial local solidarity committees. They are called upon to mobilize the people to collect significant aid to assist vulnerable people.
Aid collection will take place in all the villages and neighbourhoods of the country under the supervision of local administrative authorities and members of local solidarity committees. The aid will consist in particular of foodstuffs, clothing, money and other materials that can come to the aid of vulnerable people.
The Minister of the Interior called on the administrative authorities to adopt the necessary strategies to be able to collect significant aid which could contribute to the government’s efforts to assist the vulnerable.
He meant that the local solidarity day will be one of the criteria for evaluating district performance this year. He also invited the administrative authorities and other stakeholders to reserve the necessary follow-up for the collection and good management of the aid collected which must be placed in strategic provincial stocks, and intended to come to the aid of the destitute along the year.
Minister Ndirakobuca recalled the benefits of local solidarity instituted with the goal of enhancing the positive cultural values of Burundians.
He recalled that the President of the Republic of Burundi decided in December 2020 during the 6th general assembly of the National Social Protection Commission that from the year 2021, the day dedicated to local solidarity will be celebrated the day before or the day after the Communal Day celebrated on the first Saturday in August.
The Communal Day constitutes a framework for evaluating the results of annual achievements and analyzing future prospects.
Minister Ndirakobuca recalled that the day dedicated to local solidarity was instituted by the presidential decree of May 11, 2018 in order for the government to promote the rooting of the culture of mutual aid and solidarity which has always characterized the people of Burundi at the level of all strata of the population.
The Minister in charge of the Interior invited the administrative authorities and his partners to make the necessary efforts for a successful organization of that day for this year and therefore a visible increase in aid which has been low during the past three years.
To achieve the expected results, he called on the administrative authorities to carry out a vast campaign to mobilize the people with a view to their massive participation and an increase in aid to the vulnerable.
They were also called upon to show responsibility in identifying the vulnerable and to avoid any attempt at favoritism and cheating.
During the discussions, participants recommended in particular the planning of projects that would allow vulnerable people to overcome poverty and be self-reliant.