KAYANZA May 31st (ABP) – The prosecutor in Kayanza (north), handed over on Friday May 27, 2022, to the office for the development of coffee in Burundi (ODECA), approximately 27 tons of parchment coffee, seized on May 25 during a search carried out in ten households in Kigume village, Ngoro zone of Gatara commune.
The prosecutor in Kayanza province, Mr. Isaac Niyingabira, specified, during the handover of that coffee, that some inhabitants of Gatara denounced that there are people who were involved in the illicit marketing of coffee in the Kigume village. On the basis of that information, the police, in collaboration with the district administration, the public prosecutor, the national intelligence service and the joint security committees, carried out a search in ten households of that village. At the end of the operation, the police seized in seven households approximately 27 tons of parchment coffee contained in 396 bags and three machines used in the pulping of this coffee, he specified. The holders of all that coffee did not have the authorization to buy it, he deplored, adding that for questions of investigation, five people, including three heads of washing stations in the surrounding environment, are already arrested. These factory managers were arrested because it was found that most of the coffee seized comes from pulping-washing stations.
Mr. Niyingabira explained that handing over this coffee to ODECA is part of preserving its flavor and quality. After receiving the report signed by the public prosecutor in Kayanza and other witnesses including the governor of Kayanza, the director general of ODECA, Mr. Emmanuel Niyungeko, praised the synergy that characterized the administrative officials and security forces of Kayanza, in carrying out such a laudable activity. He insisted that this kind of behavior requires careful attention to be aware of the motives that caused all that coffee that was going to be bought at the pulping-washing stations to be diverted in such a way.
At the same time, he encouraged the people to continue to collaborate with different institutions, especially by denouncing all those who transform coffee in an anarchic way by destroying its quality. He also called on them to validly increase coffee production, because the government of Burundi has done its best to encourage coffee growers, especially by raising the price of cherry coffee A and B.
In their respective speeches, the Gatara district administrator, Mrs. Sylvane Gakuyano and the governor of Kayanza, Mr. Rémy Cishahayo, made it known that they would never give free rein to this category of people who only care about bringing down the economy of the country, by participating in the illicit marketing of coffee, whereas the latter should be transported to the washing stations so that it generates afterwards the currencies which the country always needs for the implementation of various projects of public interest. They also asked those who still have coffee in their homes to voluntarily hand them over to the competent authorities, indicating that whoever does so will not be brought to justice.