BUJUMBURA January 7th (ABP) – In his New Year address to the nation, the President of the Republic, Mr. Evariste Ndayishimiye, returned to politics with particular emphasis on good leadership. Speaking to the country’s leaders, he said “politics is not for leaders a way to make their fortune, but an ideal way to serve the citizens who have placed them in the positions they hold”. To do this, President Ndayishimiye said he saw that political leaders need training in patriotic education to strengthen good governance and leadership. Indeed, he said, it is obvious that Burundi has been made a repair of greedy politicians wanting to amass the country’s wealth while the citizens watch helplessly as they are supposed to be the real owners of this wealth, which has thus resulted in causing crises in Burundi throughout its history, said the President of the Republic said. “A leader who does injustice will, in turn, be subject to justice”, he warned.
Speaking about that patriotic education, the President of the Republic said that training sessions in patriotic education are underway to help citizens change their mentality with the aim of making them more participatory, by encouraging leaders to make decisions to their advantage. According to the President of the Republic, the change of mentality will push the leaders to behave as good servants of the citizens. During that process, President Ndayishimiye has indicated that the fight against corruption, injustice and embezzlement of public funds have been taken up as a workhorse.
While acknowledging that there is reluctance, he reiterated the commitment made to fight against this scourge. “The most important thing is that people who are guilty of corruption, injustice or embezzlement are punished and banned from the college of leaders,” he said. The President of the Republic indicated that in 2022, good governance and the fight against injustice will be strengthened and the decentralization policy will be implemented to allow citizens easy access to their leaders and to the services they are in need of. “My wish is that each sector of national life should decentralize its services to the communes for each ministry to carry out at least one development project there,” he said. He called on the leaders to prepare for it by approaching the people who elected them.