• Thu. Mar 28th, 2024

The bill on the bylaw of parliamentary staff has been analyzed and passed

ByWebmaster

Apr 14, 2022

BUJUMBURA April 14th (ABP) – The National Assembly passed unanimously, on Tuesday April 12, 2022, in the Kigobe hemicycle, the bill on the bylaw of parliament staff.

That bill aims to determine the daily management of parliamentary staff so that they can know their rights and obligations. The bill also constitutes the implementation of the fair salary policy which was initiated by the government of Burundi so that civil servants are at the same level.

The Minister of Justice, Mrs. Domine Banyankimbona, accompanied by officials from that ministry, explained the reason for that bill. She pointed out that this bill, which previously was a draft proposition, has encountered setbacks related to the political situation. The prolonged absence of this law jeopardizes the socio-professional situation of parliamentary staff members, most of whom have been hired for more than 25 years. Indeed, some parliamentary staff members have already lost the ability to return to their original ministries within the meaning of Article 61, paragraph 3 of Law No. 1/28 of 23 August 2006 on the general bylaw of civil servants. This bylaw provides that “the duration of a secondment period cannot exceed 10 years. Beyond 10 years, the seconded civil servant must choose between his/her bylaw as a civil servant and the personnel regime of the institution of secondment”.

The Minister of Justice specified that this bill will make it possible to clarify the legal framework for parliamentary staff, to protect them against political uncertainties, to secure jobs in the parliamentary administration, to properly manage staff careers and to reinforce the principle of continuity of parliamentary service despite the succession of legislatures.

Furthermore, Minister Banyankimbona underlined that the salary policy did not come to increase the salary for civil servants but for there to be harmonization between employees. The Minister did not forget to recall that the end of the implementation of that policy will take place when all the State sectors of the country will be imbued with the guiding principles of the said policy.