ADDRESS OPENING THE ORDINARY PARLIAMENTARY SESSION OF DECEMBER 2020, BY HIS EXCELLENCY Rt. HON. EMMANUEL SINZOHAGERA, BURUNDI SENATE SPEAKER

                                                                  Gitega, December 01, 2020

Honorable First Deputy–Speaker of;

Honorable Second Deputy–Speaker;

Honorable Senators;

Chief Justice;

Your Excellencies Ministers;

President of the National Independent Electoral Commission;

Commissioner–General of the Special Anti–Corruption Brigade;

Honorable Governor of Gitega Province

Representatives of Diplomatic and Consular Corps accredited to Burundi;

Representatives of International Organizations in Burundi;

Members of the press;

Distinguished Guests;

Ladies and Gentlemen;

1. First of all, let us thank the Almighty and Merciful God, who showered us with His grace that allowed us to end our recess while our country is peaceful and safe. We ourselves enjoyed all the activities that we carried out with the population. Praise God now and forever.

2. On October 30, 2020, while closing the ordinary session of August, we informed you that we would meet in this Chamber today, Tuesday, December 01^st, 2020 for the solemn opening of the ordinary session of December, in accordance with the Constitution of the Republic of Burundi in its articles 179 and 190.

3. On behalf of the Senate Bureau, Honorable Senators, and on my own behalf, we take this opportunity to greet you and welcome you to these ceremonies that the Senate is organizing today. We would like to reiterate our sincere thanks for having responded to our invitation despite your multiple obligations.

Honorable senators,

Distinguished guests,

4. During this expired recess, we visited some communes of Bujumbura, Muramvya and Ngozi provinces. Together with senators and deputies elected in those constituencies, we joined the population in community development activities. We extend our sincere thanks to the Honorable senators who spared no effort in visiting their constituencies. We encourage you to keep that momentum. Those visits we organized gave us the opportunity to discuss the following:

1) Safeguarding peace and security;

2) Fighting against polygamy, prohibited alcoholic drinks and other bad behaviors;

3) Sensitizing the population about building offices of Chiefs of villages to offer them an address, especially now that the traditional justice system by notables of the village is going to be restored;

4) Buckling down to development activities through cooperatives;

5) Not wasting the harvests because “Full belly, good sleep, but emptiness hurts”.

6) Strengthening the administration, so that administrative officials feel accountable to the population, and that they have the mandate to lead them in the implementation of the Government programs;

7) Caring about public health, because life is precious and especially in this period of the global covid-19 pandemic;

8) Protecting the environment by implementing the Government’s “Ewe Burundi urambaye” project;

9) On November 17, 2020, we held a meeting for representatives of registered religious denominations in Burundi. The theme of the day was “The role of religious denominations in development and in safeguarding peace and security in Burundi”. During that meeting, representatives of the Religious Denominations promised to be role models for believers of their Churches in fighting poverty, like Apostle Saint Paul who, in addition to evangelization, wove tents, which enabled him to earn his living by his own efforts.

10) During the meeting, representatives of Religious Denominations committed themselves to comply with the statutes governing their Churches, and with the law governing the functioning of Religious Denominations in Burundi. As leadership rivalries are being observed within some churches, participants called for the strengthening and remarkable support of the Arbitration Commission by the current Responsible and Hardworking Government.

11) We agreed to meet once in every six months to assess the progress in the implementation of those commitments.

5. We also participated in the 57^th session of the Parliamentary Assembly of African, Caribbean and Pacific States, by video conference. There, Honorable First Deputy-Speaker represented us. We thank the Government of Burundi for granting us the venue for the event. We hope that even in the future this chancewill prevailas long as the Covid-19 is not eradicated to allow conferences to be organized normally.

6. We congratulate the Government of the Republic of Burundi for its measure to close the UN Secretary General Special Envoy’s Office in Burundi. Nothing would justify its reason d’être today, given the step already achieved by Burundi, in preserving peace and security, the protection of human rights, good governance through holding of peaceful and free elections.

Honorable Senators,

Distinguished guests,

7. In compliance with article 163 of the Constitution of the Republic of Burundi, we will consider 10 bills sent us by the Government, namely:

1. Bill on Ratification by the Republic of Burundi of the Agreement on Establishment of East African Standby Force;

2. Bill on the accession by the Republic of Burundi to the 1954 Convention on the status of stateless persons.

3. Bill on the accession by the Republic of Burundi to the 1961 Convention on the reduction of statelessness;

4. Bill on income tax;

5. Bill on Ratification by the Republic of Burundi of the Minamata Convention on Mercury;

6. Bill on Ratification of the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol on Substances that deplete the Ozone Layer;

7. Bill on Ratification by the Republic of Burundi of the revised Treaty establishing the Economic Community of Central African States;

8. Bill supplementing the provisions of the Code of Civil Procedure relating to the reinstatement of the notables of the village;

9. Bill revising organic law N° 1/13 of 12 June 2019 on the organization and functioning of the Superior Council of the Magistracy;

10. Bill on Ratification by the Republic of Burundi of the Cooperation Agreement between the Government of the Republic of Burundi and the Government of the Republic of Turkey. 

8. Before concluding our remarks, allow us to join you in congratulating the national football team “Intamba mu Rugamba” which honored our country by beating the national team of Mauritania.

We wish it good luck in the coming games of the tournament. Only then, Burundi will play for the second time in the Africa Cup of Nations finals due in Cameroon.

9. To conclude our address, we would like to wish Honorable senators success for this December session. We solemnly declare open the December Ordinary Session on this Tuesday, December 01, 2020.

Long live Burundi and friends of Burundi;

May God protect you and protect Burundi.

Thank you.