BUJUMBURA August 16th (ABP) – The Cabinet members, who met on Wednesday August 9, 2023 in Gitega, under the chairmanship of the President of the Republic of Burundi, Evariste Ndayishimiye, analyzed and adopted the memorandum of understanding between the Government of Burundi and the company SEACOM LIMITED, according to the press release of the General Secretariat of the Government.
Indeed, it is specified in the press release that the government of Burundi is committed to connecting the entire population to the communication network, and this is possible thanks to the deployment of the infrastructure of information and communication technologies, appropriate and accessible to everyone. To that end, the optical fiber has been deployed to the provincial headquarters with a vision of its expansion to the headquarters of the communes or even to those of the zones. The implementation of this MOU will enable the government to achieve this objective, as the deployment of optical fiber will arrive all over the country and the price of the internet will be reduced and affordable.
According to the Secretary General of the Government, the company SEACOM LIMITED aims to implement a secure fiber optic network linking Burundi to the point of presence of SEACOM LIMITED in Tanzania. The said company also has the vision of improving access to high-speed Internet at an affordable and accessible cost throughout Burundi, of creating a partnership with ONATEL, and of promoting competition in the environment of electronic communication services in Burundi.
After analysis and debate, the Cabinet members adopted the memorandum with certain observations. Thus, the optical fiber offered by SEACOM LIMITED will arrive directly in Burundi without intermediary and at a low price. The LACELL company occupies a central place in this file while it is not in order with the OBR. It is necessary to take the necessary measures so that it pays what it owes to the State.
SEACOM LIMITED will create a partnership with ONATEL by providing equipment not available to ONATEL, and everyone will be paid according to their contribution. An audit of the BBS company is necessary to know the contribution of the State as capital, to identify the causes of its performance, its financial health, the reasons for its high tariffs and others.
In the miscellaneous items, the Head of State spoke of the fight that is being waged within the judicial sector. There is an inadmissible behavior that borders on insubordination in this sector. This situation must absolutely stop because measures are being taken.
The Vice President of the Republic, for his part, commended the step taken in the implementation of the salary policy at the level of the civil service. He asked that the principles applied at the level of the civil service in terms of salaries be extended to all structures operating with the State budget.
He also asked that the files of civil servants who are retiring be processed quickly so that they receive their pension as soon as possible, and especially that equivalent to their last salary, in accordance with the announcement made by the Head of State, almost three years ago.