BUJUMBURA October 27th (ABP) – The mayor of Bujumbura city, Jimmy Hatungimana carried out, Wednesday October 25, 2023, a visit to the urban commune of Muha in the Kanyosha zone where he met administrative officials, security officials and the people of that locality.
In his speech, he said that that visit is part of asking the people about the concerns they face on a daily basis in order to find adequate solutions.
The mayor said that the security situation is in good shape but that certain factors risk disrupting it. He, for information purposes, mentioned the rumors spread via social networks where people with bad intentions scare the people claiming that the stove is burning. That is why he asked the population to never listen to those rumors or share them with each other and to go about their daily activities properly. To do that, he called on administrative officials to always remain alongside their constituents by reassuring them whenever necessary.
Cholera was also mentioned by the mayor of the Bujumbura city as a disturbing factor and he, to that end, invited the habitats of the Kanyosha zone as well as many others to scrupulously respect the rules of hygiene and above all using clean water.
In that regard, Mr. Hatungimana said that in order to control the cholera epidemic in Bujumbura Mayorship and especially in neighborhoods which are often vulnerable including Kanyosha, the government of Burundi via the NGO Amazi Water has taken into account handle the situation.
“The Amazi Water organization is supplying drinking water to all the neighborhoods often victims of cholera and we hope that with that laudable action, cholera will undoubtedly be brought under control,” he reassured. To do that, the population benefiting from those installations is called upon by the mayor to maintain them and the administrative staff at the base to ensure that those public assets are not damaged.
The behavior of young people of adolescent age was also cited by the mayor as an element which risks disrupting security if, at least, nothing is done as soon as possible. He pointed out that those young people have created places for themselves, often small corners, where they meet to consume drugs and especially hemp, which primarily disrupts the families of the latter who begin to sell the goods. family to get money to buy those drugs. According to Hatungimana, the situation is evolving on a national scale because the user of those drugs who is normally supposed to be the Burundi of tomorrow is losing his status as such, which is a huge loss for the country, he said. To do that, the mayor of the city of Bujumbura urged the police in collusion with neighborhood leaders to dismantle those corners and severely punish those who are caught there.
Hatungimana did not, at all, forget to mention sugar among the elements that can disrupt security where there are administrative officials who arrogate to themselves the right to hide bags of that product to sell them at exorbitant prices and to people previously unknown to the detriment of the people for whom that sugar should be intended. The mayor does not beat around the bush: “Woe to those officials, they will automatically lose their positions,” he said. SOSUMO belongs to the population from which the sugar is intended for the same people,” he continued.
Motorcyclists who do not respect the road code and the set times to return, fraud, the area commonly called kwa Sebatutsi where they manifest quarrels between temporal operators and many other elements have been classified among the factors which risk disrupt the security situation if the quadrilogy does not remain vigilant.
The concerns of the population were much more dominated by the poor state of the roads, certain rivers and streams which threaten habitats especially during that rainy period and which need to be channeled to avoid damage.
The population also raised the problem linked to the absence of youth support spaces following the anarchic construction often in green spaces, the insufficiency of youth centers where the entire commune of Muha has a single youth center erected in Musaga. It was also mentioned certain localities which are not supplied with electricity, the village mediators not having offices, the Kick drink which is certified by the BBN but which rages and many other minor conflicts which often oppose people.
Concerning the canalization of rivers, Mr. Hatungimana indicated that that question will be submitted to OBUHA which will explore ways and means of emptying it in order to limit the damage.
Concerning the absence of spaces for supporting young people, he stressed that that deplorable situation is due to certain leaders at the time who only aimed at their own interests by sacrificing common interests.
However, he reassured that the Bujumbura town hall is looking for land to develop so that young people can find a leisure space.
As for certain localities not supplied with electricity, the mayor indicates that the ongoing construction of a certain number of dams will definitively resolve that concern.
Regarding the village mediators who do not have offices, he said that the government is aware of that but that the problems which the latter face in the exercise of their function will be resolved gradually as the means will allow it.
Concerning the kick drink which constitutes, in a way, a threat in the neighborhood even though it is certified as being compliant with the standard, Hatungimana indicated that while waiting for other measures to be taken, administrative officials are called to raise awareness among the population about the harmful effects of that drink.
Other concerns that were raised received satisfactory responses from the mayor of the city of Bujumbura who, moreover, promised that the next raids will be carried out at the neighborhood level.