BUJUMBURA July 10th (ABP) – The Cabinet met on Wednesday July 5, 2023, in Gitega, under the chairmanship of the Head of State, Mr. Evariste Ndayishimiye with 16 items on the agenda.
The Cabinet Members focused on the analysis of the draft decree on the harmonization of advancement methods and procedures for administrative release and fictitious career advancement in public institutions with special bylaws. That draft decree was presented by the minister in charge of finance. According to a press release from the General Secretariat of the State, that standard reduces the disparities in the mode of advancement. The Cabinet has proposed that there be a decree that provides for the new harmonized modes of advancement. The public personnel concerned, will be positioned according to the scores obtained from 2015 to 2022. After discussions and debates, the draft decree was adopted with a recommendation to calculate the budgetary impact as soon as the decree was put in place.
Secondly, the Cabinet Members analyzed the draft ordinance amending the joint ordinance on the procedures for granting mission orders and setting the scale of mission expenditures. That bill was proposed with a view to adjusting the scales taking into account the socio-economic realities of the moment. After analysis, the Cabinet Members recommended to the Minister in charge of finance to reflect on attendance fees and provisions for certain institutions. As for the ministries, it was recommended to make statistics of the missions to be carried out each month and their budgetary impact, in order to make a good planning. That data will inform the competent authority to make decisions.
The Cabinet Members also analyzed the draft ordinance implementing article 42 setting the general budget of the Republic of Burundi for the 2023-2024 financial year. The draft ordinance was adopted subject to recommendations, among others, the involvement of the minister in charge of equipment when it comes to a contract concerning the purchase of equipment, priority for locally manufactured products, the decentralization of certain equipment, in particular those relating to the supply of defense and security forces.
The Cabinet Members adopted the expenditure commitment ceilings for the first quarter of 2023/2024, as presented by the Minister in charge of finance. During the 2023/2024 budget management, it was decided that the rate of expenditure commitment will be based on the rate of revenue collection. According to the conclusions of the Cabinet Members in relation to that section, the appropriations not committed during the first quarter fall into cancellation and they can be reallocated to another budgetary program of another ministry or to another constitutional institution. For this, a budget line is opened to the ministry in charge of finance.
In the miscellaneous items, the Cabinet Members indicated that they deplore the attitude of the Human Rights Committee during the 138th session of the Human Rights Committee held in Geneva, from July 3 to 4. According to the Cabinet Members, the session invited the persons prosecuted and already convicted by the Burundian justice alongside the Burundian delegation, at a time when Burundi was going to present its 3rd periodic report on human rights in Burundi in front of that committee. The government of Burundi considers that this is, for the Human Rights Council, a way of promoting impunity while Burundi is working to fight it in order to promote human rights. The Cabinet Members closed the session while stressing that the Government of Burundi invites the Human Rights Council to pull itself together and avoid advocating one thing and its opposite.