SUMMARY REPORT OF THE PLENA RY SESSION OF MAY 7, 2024

In the year two thousand and twenty-four, on the seventh day of May, senators gathered in the Senate hemicycle in Gitega for the 188^th plenary session of the sixth legislature relating to:

• the adoption of the modified programme of activities which were planned for the period from April 18 to May 7, 2024;
• the analysis and adoption of the draft programme of activities planned for the period from May 6 to 21, 2024;
• the analysis and adoption of draft organic law n°1/…/of…/2024 relating to the reorganization of communal administration.

The session was chaired by Honourable Denise NDADAYE, First Deputy Speaker of the Senate. This session, which was enhanced by the presence of 29 senators and a Government Representative, Mr. Martin NITERETSE, Minister of Home Affairs, Community Development and Public Security, began as usual, with a prayer at 10 hours 46 minutes.

Opening the session, the First Deputy Speaker of the Senate first welcomed the senators and subsequently presented the two programmes and the latter were adopted unanimously.

The session continued with the presentation of the explanatory memorandum of the bill under analysis, by Martin NITERETSE, after a welcoming word addressed to him.

In his presentation, the Minister indicated that the bill under analysis is legitimized by the rearrangements carried out through organic law n°1/05 of March 16, 2023 relating to the delimitation of provinces, Communes, zones, villages or districts of the Republic of Burundi. He indicated that taking into account new orientations of the Government in terms of integral development of the population and effective and efficient decentralization, the revision of certain provisions of organic law n°1/33 of November 28, 2014 on the organization of the communal administration is required in order to adapt it to the above-mentioned law.

Continuing his presentation, the Government representative indicated that it is very important to clarify the specifications of each of the authorities of local entities to bring public services closer to the population.

After the exposé and the presentation of the report of the committee on the merits, the floor was given to the Honourable senators so that they could express themselves in the general debate and ask questions for clarification.

When asked by senators that it would be better to specify the level of university training for the position of communal administrator, the Minister responded that as the administrator is a political agent, setting the level of training of the administrator amounts to violating the law governing political positions and technical positions in force.

To the wish of senators to only consider residents of the commune in the composition of the members of the communal council, given that non-residents often paralyze the activities of the council, the Government Representative indicated that the electoral code specifies the maximum number of non-resident communal council members to overcome this problem. The law governing the functioning of the communal council also specifies the number of unjustified absences that a member of the communal council totals in order to be replaced, added the Minister.

Concerned by elected officials that there would be a risk of overlap between the powers transferred to the communes and those of the central administration, the Minister reassured the elected representatives of the people that there would be no overlap because the municipal authorities will carry out the guidelines of the central administration.

Regarding where lies the incompatibility of being a minister or parliamentarian and being a member of the communal council, Martin NITERETSE explained that experience has shown that the accumulation of functions handicaps the proper functioning of certain institutions in the country, given that it is impossible to be in two places at the same time.

As for the difference in specifications between the communal audit cell and the finance commission of the communal council, the Government Representative explained that the audit cell reports to the communal administrator to inform him about the execution activities in the services in order to take necessary measures, while the finance commission reports to the communal council and it will be able to use the audit report in its control.

After this debate and the adoption of the amendments of the committee responsible and those formulated in plenary, the bill was put to the vote and was adopted unanimously by the 39 voting senators, including 29 present and 10 proxie.

The session, which took place in a climate of total understanding, was closed at 3:10 p.m.