BUJUMBURA May 30th (ABP) – Forty-two couples have chosen to regularize the marital status of their illegal union that they had lived in the past. They were filled with joy, a check by ABP revealed.
The administrator of that commune, Dismas Harimenshi, organized regularization ceremonies after the village trips during which he realized that their living conditions were not good.
He specified that the children were not registered in the marital registry and were deprived of certain rights, the reason why he organized the registration of their parents in the marital registry.
After their marriage at the marital status level, they continued with the religious marriage. The parish priest of Mubimbi recommended that young couples from the Batwa community change their behavior and know that they have body and mind like other Burundians, that they should not underestimate themselves, that they must send their children to school as it is the source of development, and above all, have quiet households, without quarrels.
The ceremonies were honored with the presence of the Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of National Solidarity, Social Affairs, Human Rights and Gender, Pontien Hatungimana. The latter congratulated them and recalled that the government knows that there are groups of people who have been forgotten and who will be taken into account. He asked them to change their behavior, to send the children to school and to have quiet households as recommended by the parish priest.
Mr. Hatungimana recalled that new households need a sign of solidarity. To that end, he gave each household 10 kilograms of rice from the ministry in charge of national solidarity.
It is worthy to note that those ceremonies were also attended by the MP from the Batwa community elected in Cibitoke province (western Burundi) and the executive secretary of the Union for the promotion of Batwa (UNIPROBA). The latter asked that children from the Batwa community be sent to school.