BUJUMBURA, June 27th (ABP) – The inclusion of refugees in the various labour services is necessary to overcome the challenges they face, according to the president of the Musasa refugee camp in Ngozi province (northern Burundi), Mr. Kabatiza Mugemanyi.
According to Mr. Mugemanyi, in the health sector, refugees encounter difficulties in accessing medical care, as they are often faced with a shortage of medicines when a patient presents himself at the hospital. He deplored the problem of transferring patients following the reduction in health assistance, and a bonus deemed minimal for refugee nurses.
In terms of empowerment, the refugees lack the space to farm, raise livestock and trade, he stressed.
In the education sector, there are no Congolese teachers due to the lack of a bonus to pay them, so he is calling the government to integrate refugee teachers into the Burundian education system and decentralise school administration to overcome the challenges they face.
Mr Mugemanyi is also calling on the government to include refugees in Burundi’s education and health systems. He asked the government to provide them with a health card so that they can access medicines, and to set up a mechanism to provide refugees with support and capacity building in the national language (Kirundi).
In response to all those grievances, Théophile Ndarufatiye, the Secretary of State for the Interior and Community Development, said that the government and UNHCR were doing their best to integrate refugees into Burundi’s education and health systems and to involve them in businesses and institutions in order to achieve the vision of emergence by 2040.