Summary report of the plenary session of January 5, 2023

The year two thousand and twenty-three, the fifth day of January, senators met in the Senate’s hemicycle in Gitega for the 117^th session of the sixth legislature to bend over the following issues:

• Analysis and adoption of the agenda of activities for the period running from January 09 to 25;
• Analysis and adoption of the organic law n°1/…../of……./…….20…..related to the determination and delimitation of provinces, communes, zones and villages or quarters of the Republic of Burundi.

The session was chaired by the Senate Speaker, Right Honourable Emmanuel SINZOHAGERA. That session which was attended by 33 senators and Government representative, namely the Minister of Home Affairs, Community Development nad Public Security; Mister Martin NITERETSE, started, as usual, with a prayer, at 10:38.

Opening the session, the Senate Speaker first welcomed the Honourable Senators and, thereafter, presented the programme of activities for the period comprised between January 09 and 25, 2023 for adoption.

After the adoption of that programme, the Chair of the session invited the Minister who had represented the Government to present the explanatory memorandum of the law under analysis.

In his presentation, Minister Martin NITERETSE made it known that the subdivisions made through that organic law aim to organize Burundi into viable, competitive territories that promote sustainable development. They will, he added, also respond to the following pressing political needs:

• the implementation of the national decentralization policy;
• the effective application of the political orientations of the Government;
• the harmonization administrative organisations of our country with those of the sub-region ‘CEPGL and EAC (Rwanda, DRC and Tanzania);
• the creation of financially viable territorial entities;
• the reinforcement of the administration of proximity to the citizen
• an efficient strategy to fight poverty;
• the reduction of State charges towards municipalities and broadening of the tax base.

At the end of the explanatory memorandum and the presentation of the report of the commission responsible, the senators had the opportunity to ask questions of general debate for more clarifications.

To the concern of the senators that the subdivision operated at the level of the communes did not take into account the equitable sharing of the existing socio-economic infrastructures, Minister Martin NITERETSE replied that those infrastructures belong to the State and not to the communes. The criterion of choice was centered above all on the opportunities of the communes to be able to develop in order to reduce the burdens of the State towards the communes, he insisted.

Regarding issues related to the remoteness of certain villages from the capitals of municipalities, Minister Martin NITERETSE said that the basic administrative entity in this decentralization policy is the zone. The latter will bring together all the services that the commune offered to the population.

As for the lack of premises that will serve as administrative offices for certain zones, the Minister reassured the elected representatives of the people by telling them that once the law is promulgated, these infrastructures will be built and electrified to allow the ongoing digitalization of public administrative services.

For the question of when the implementing texts will be drawn up, the Minister explained that the Government is waiting for the implementation of this organic law which is the working tool.

After all these clarifications, senators analyzed the amendments proposed by the committees seized for opinion and those of the committee seized with the substance. At the end of the analysis, some of these amendments were rejected.

Afterwards, the bill was put to the vote and adopted unanimously by the 39 voting senators, including 33 present and 9 proxies.

The session, which took place in an atmosphere of perfect harmony, ended at 15:25 with a prayer.