Bujumbura July 18th (ABP) – The Ministry of National Solidarity, Human Rights and Gender in collaboration with the administration of the urban commune of Ntahangwa and the Bujumbura City organized, on Friday July 15, 2022, in that commune, a meeting for vulnerable people in Bujumbura City to discuss the ways and means of leaving the street and renouncing the phenomenon of begging.
Speaking, the administrator of the urban commune of Ntahangwa, Mr. Ernest Niyonzima expressed his thanks to the ministry in charge of national solidarity for its intervention towards the vulnerable people of the commune Ntahangwa in large number.
The permanent secretary at the ministry having national solidarity in his attributions Mr. Felix Ngendabanyikwa said that among these vulnerable people, there are some who can carry out any activity to give up begging and others who cannot because ‘they live with disabilities, adding that everyone needs to be assisted.
For those who can, he invited them to come together in cooperatives or associations to develop development projects and promised them that the ministry will help them find solutions to any problems they may encounter during execution of their development projects.
The director general in charge of social reintegration Mr. Pontien Hatungimana said that it is the Ntahangwa commune which has a large number of vulnerable people.
According to him, the problems that these vulnerable people expose to the Ministry of Solidarity are among others the lack of food, housing, and money for treatment.
Mr. Hatungimana took advantage of this opportunity to explain to them that the food assistance that the Ministry of National Solidarity grants to them does not succeed in removing them from poverty, and advised them to leave Bujumbura where life is expensive to go and carry out development projects inside the country for their empowerment. He stressed that “Whoever gives someone a fish, should also teach him how to fish” to continue living independently.
As the majority of these vulnerable people are women, the Director General responsible for the advancement of women and gender equality, Mrs. Donatienne Girukwishaka invited them to contact the family development centers (CDF), to benefit from capacity building in self-development.
She also asked vulnerable women to join “Nawenuze” circuses, which are making remarkable progress, adding that it is shameful to see a woman who practices begging when she is the pillar of the household.
In turn, vulnerable people have expressed their problems related to the lack of capital, lack of work space, the difficulty of grouping together in cooperatives, especially for those living with disabilities, so that they cannot do something.
Closing the session, the permanent secretary at the aforementioned ministry asked municipal officials to help those vulnerable people to form cooperatives and associations and ANACOP will be able to facilitate their task in granting the required papers free of charge. Concerning the capital, he invited them to apply to the women’s bank, promising that the ministry will help them to have credits there.
In addition, he gave advice to itinerant traders to put an end to this behavior, which is the subject of dispute with the municipal authorities and the police, but to go and settle in the Ngagara market, known as COTEBU, where there are still places.
People with disabilities can also see, depending on their disability, whether they can carry out any development project that the Ministry of National Solidarity can support.