GITEGA February 16th (ABP) – The Minister of the Interior, Community Development and Public Security, Mr. Martin Niteretse, answered oral questions from members of the Upper House of parliament, on Tuesday, February 14, 2023, in the hemicycle of Gitega (center of the country).
To the question of the risk of overlapping of activities between the members of the village arbitration council and the village elected officials in charge of administration, Minister Niteretse said that each of the two categories of officials has its well-defined terms of reference. He explained that the former are responsible for settling social conflicts to establish a peaceful coexistence among the people and that the latter, in turn, are grassroots administrative officials. They pass on to the lower levels of the administration the orientations of the hierarchical levels on the development of the village entity, he added. Thus, instead of overlapping, insisted Mr. Niteretse, the two categories of officials collaborate rather for the interest of their constituents.
On the question of the digitization of the civil status service, Minister Niteretse said that the related trials are underway in 18 communes chosen in different provinces of the country. “This approach will make it possible to do battle with hacks which are observed in this service, in particular cheating on marriage and birth certificates”, he specified. As for the question related to the increase in the prices of BRARUDI products, BUCECO cement, sugar and meat, the minister in charge of the Interior replied that the administrative authorities at all levels are doing their best to protect regulatory prices, deploring however speculative traders who deceive their vigilance. To remedy this, Minister Niteretse said that he has intimately ordered his subordinates to remove from the list all speculative traders who obtain their supplies from the production units mentioned above and replace them with honest traders. Minister Niteretse also spoke on an issue related to strategies for reducing road traffic accidents. He proposed the insertion in the programs of basic education of courses on the driving of vehicles. For him, drivers who have learned to drive vehicles at an advanced age cause more accidents. In addition, he proposed to raise the pricing of fines, which will help drivers be in order with the Highway Code.
Surveillance cameras will be multiplied to help it. Moreover, with the reason that the members of the defense and security corps give their all in the accomplishment of of their tasks, Minister Niteretse pleaded, to that end, a special treatment for them to compensate for their efforts.