RETURN OF THE SENATE SPEAKER FROM A WORK MISSION IN SOUTH AFRICA

On Saturday, September 3, 2022, the Senate Speaker, Right Honourable Emmanuel Sinzohagera, returned from a work mission in South Africa where he had taken part in Conference of Speakers of Parliamentary Chambers of African countries.

During this meeting, participants discussed the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic, food resilience and updating the African continent’s agenda in relation to development.

About the Corona virus pandemic, they found that the rate of vaccination against this disease is low in Africa (22%). The Speakers of the Parliamentary Chambers took advantage of this opportunity to ask for the promotion of the field of health by setting up laboratories to deal with diseases.

With regard to food, they proposed that African governments revise upwards the budgets allocated to agriculture to ensure the well-being of the population in terms of food.

As for updating Africa development agenda, they found that this agenda is handicapped by armed conflicts in some countries such as the DRC, Somalia, South Sudan, etc. They then urged the Peace and Security Commission of the African Union to get involved in order to silence the guns.

On the sidelines of this Conference, the Right Honourable Emmanuel Sinzohagera met with his counterparts from the DRC, Rwanda, South Sudan and Zimbabwe, to invite them to come and take part in the ASSECAA meeting which will take place in Bujumbura, scheduled on September 19 to 20, 2022.

He also met the Burundian diaspora living in South Africa, to discuss their contribution to the development of Burundi.