BUJUMBURA December 16th (ABP) – The MPs analyzed and unanimously passed, on Tuesday December 14, 2021, in the Kigobe hemicycle, the bill amending law N ° 1/17 of December 31, 2010, on the status of brigadiers of the national police of Burundi.
The Minister of the Interior, Community Development and Public Security, Mr. Gervais Ndirakobuca, was invited to give possible clarifications. He first recalled that the national police of Burundi are governed by organic law N ° 1/03 enacted on February 20, 2017, on the mission, composition, organization and functioning of the national police of Burundi.
Minister Ndirakobuca specified that article 313 of that law provides for a number of implementing texts, in particular the bylaws of the personnel of the national police of Burundi. According to him, the drafting of that law is largely inspired by Law No. 1/17 of December 31, 2010 on the status of brigadiers of the national police of Burundi by bringing certain innovations to it that may allow the non-commissioned officer of the police to work in a socio-economic, security and political environment of the moment.
During questions asked by the standing committee of the National Assembly in charge of defense and security, the members of the committee asked the minister in charge of security why in the bill, they thought of changing ranks of non-commissioned officers by seeing fit to resume the same ranks of non-commissioned officers in the army, arguing that this could cause confusion.
The minister replied that there is no confusion between the two bodies, given that their missions differ, specifying that the army takes care of the missions of defending the territory while the police take care of the missions of order inside the country around major classic missions, namely internal security, the judicial police and the migration police.
The committee also asked for the ranks worn by non-commissioned officers during their training.
The minister responsible for security replied that the ranks of the police non-commissioned officers under training will be determined by a regulatory text as is the case for candidate officers and candidate agents of the national police of Burundi.
During the plenary session, the MPs asked for the selection criterion for the police non-commissioned officer to benefit from functional training or promotion training as provided for in articles 12 and 13.
Mr. Ndirakobuca replied to them that by organizing that kind of training, the criteria will be determined according to the assimilation capacity of the non-commissioned officer in question but also according to their professional skills.
Regarding the problem of payment for medical care for police officers who are mainly in the interior of the country, the minister pointed out that, even if the budget allocated to the police remains insufficient, the recovery of debts especially towards the health facilities which offer care to the policies affected there, remains a priority.
After the discussions, 93 MPs who were present at the plenary session passed that bill on the status of non-commissioned officers of the national police of Burundi, subject to certain recommendations.