BUJUMBURA January 13th (ABP) – The Minister of National Solidarity, Social Affairs, Human Rights and Gender, Mrs. Imelde Sabushimike and that of Infrastructure, Equipment and Social Housing, Mr. Dieudonné Dukundane, made, on Tuesday January 10, 2023, a trip to Bujumbura province (western Burundi), to inquire about the concerns of the people, in order to provide solutions and give ways of solutions, a check in Isare commune by ABP, has revealed.
Among the major concerns addressed to the Minister of National Solidarity, the communal administrators informed him that their communes were affected by hail and a strong wind which destroyed 57 houses in the commune of Isare and damaged many crops in all the communes, without forgetting the displaced people living in misery. The question of the Batwa community who need to be assisted with food and provided with arable land was also submitted to her. Other speakers mentioned the fact that there are drugs that the public service mutual fund does not cover, health insurance cards that are no longer distributed as before…
Minister Sabushimike said the hail affected the whole country but not all the villages and suggested that people help each other in local solidarity to find seeds. Regarding the destroyed houses, the governor asked the administrators, within the framework of the zero Nyakatsi (Nyakatsi: houses roofed with thatch) policy, to mobilize the vulnerable people who need housing to contribute by raising the walls and finding poles so that the ministry gives them iron sheets.
To the people in the sites waiting for help and to members of the Batwa community, Minister Sabushimike suggested that they be loaned land to cultivate.
She asked the displaced people of Gatumba to agree to be relocated because they will be installed where there are other people.
For the question related to the mutual fund, the Administrative and Financial Director of the Public Service Mutual Fund, Mr. Serge Ntirwihisha, was clear: the mutual fund only reimburses generic drugs and not specialties because those drugs are not imported by the Medicines Purchasing Center. However, he informed that the mutual fund supports specialties for chronic diseases.
In the same line of ideas, the administrators presented to minister responsible for infrastructure, roads in poor condition, bridges that had collapsed and that needed to be rehabilitated. In Mutimbuzi commune, constructions are erected in undeveloped places, this is the case of Gatunguru, Tenga, where there are no well-marked lines of communication, no public spaces, to name but a few.
Administrator Siméon Butoyi asked Minister Dukundane to visit that locality in order to clearly delimit the spaces intended to accommodate schools and playgrounds.
Other speakers asked him for machines that would be refueled by the people in order to clearly visualize certain communication routes.
The administrator of the Isare commune, Gilbert Niyokuru, pleaded for the owners of the plots to know the real delimitation of the plots which will be subject to compensation. As for the governor, he asked the minister to grant land to the province to exchange it for the one that houses the province’s premises because the latter were built on private land.
Minister Dukundane has undertaken to follow up the road being rehabilitated, which leads to the headquarters of Bujumbura province. He also promised that he will plead for the budget for next July to include maintenance funds for the Astrida road until it is paved.
Regarding public infrastructure erected on private land, Minister Dukundane promised that he will look into the matter in consultation with the governor.
Note that several questions were asked and answered by the two ministers.