BUJUMBURA January 11th (ABP) – As part of the continuation and closing of the government retreat held from November 03 to 05, 2021 at the presidential palace of Gitega, it was held from January 04 to 05, 2022 in Bujumbura, at the presidential palace Ntare Rushatsi House, a government retreat under the chairmanship of the Head of State Mr. Evariste Ndayishimiye.
Two key themes were on the agenda, namely: budgetary decentralization in Burundi and the digitization of public revenue collection, according to a statement from the general secretariat of the government.
Regarding decentralization, the President of the Republic recalled that it must be made effective at all costs. In addition to the Communes (Local Collectivities), there are also the decentralized entities of ministries, public administrative establishments, personalized State administrations, other public services and so on.
Every public servant must be responsible and commit to doing something. That is why these two themes were followed by the presentation of the code of ethics and professional conduct for the Burundian civil service.
Indeed, the salary a civil servant receives is a counterpart of the work done. The same is true of the supplier who takes advantage of the state market and earns money.
In return, he must do something for the country, where also a topic concerning the code of conduct for suppliers was presented. All those themes complement each other and contribute to good governance and the good management of public affairs.
After that introduction, Mr. Ndayishimiye invited the Minister of Interior, Community Development and Public Security, Mr. Gervais Ndirakobuca, to present the first theme on decentralization.
Mr. Ndirakobuca returned to the definition of decentralization, which consists of a transfer of power from the State to the municipalities, with a view to local and community development. He also recalled what the decentralization process is aimed at, namely local and community development, local democracy and good governance.
He highlighted the government’s strong will to establish a development policy centered on enhancing the value of the Burundian citizen as an actor and first beneficiary of progress in order to make the municipality a real gateway to development.
He then made a global overview of the state of play of decentralization, showing the origins of decentralization, the legal basis, the national decentralization policy 1st generation 2009 to 2018 and 2nd generation 2018 to 2027 and the 5 axes of convergence which are: strengthening of the institutional legal framework of decentralization actors at all levels, the efficiency of local communities in promoting local economic development, fiscal and financial decentralization.
In fiscal and financial decentralization, the government’s vision is that “by 2027, the municipality is institutionally and financially viable autonomous, offers quality services in a sustainable manner, in an inclusive environment, attractive and favorable to development. economic and social, centered on valuing the citizen”.
As challenges, Mr. Ndirakobuca underlined the problem of the management of human and financial resources, in particular the lack of expertise or insufficiency of qualified and competent personnel, lack of means; the interaction between different ministries; the interaction between services.
The problem of the supervision of decentralized and deconcentrated entities (debate on the supervision of the local territorial authority and / or sector), problem of recruitment and the question of budgets, resistance and / or reluctance to reform (change of mentality) , the escape of responsibility or insufficient culture of responsibility, the legal framework of decentralization still incomplete, the conflict of interest, between the general interest and the particular interest, the disparities of the personnel according to the provinces and the communes, the lack of officials to redeploy for some ministries.
As a possible solution, it was recommended to improve the legal framework for decentralization, take accompanying measures to strengthen decentralization and improve the career of human resources, accelerate and finalize the administrative division, digitize the career and strengthen capacities for the staff, show a tenacious and unwavering political will redeploy and / or socially and professionally reconvert the overcrowded or non-exploitable staff, increase the work infrastructure where there is none, develop a sense of responsibility and culture of accountability, harmonize legal texts relating to decentralization, to name but a few.