2023: Key takeaways from President Ndayishimiye end of the year address
RegionWeek Newsletter Vol VII, Issue #221 | Monday, January 2, 2023
Dear RegionWeek Reader,
Happy New Year,
Welcome back to our weekday briefing,
2023 is defferent!
We wish you a healthy and prosperous year!
In a video shot at the porch of Gitega Presidential Palace and aired this Saturday night, President Evariste Ndayishimiye gave an address focused on reinventing the leadership and the power of unity in the pursuits of the goals that will make Burundi a developed country in 2060.
Crazy rumors before the adress.We listened to the message addressed to the nation just after we learned that President Ndayishimiye was about to appoint a new spokesperson, the rumours turned out to be true, now Mrs Rosine Guilene Gatoni is the new spokesperson for the President. We ignore if she was involved in the preparation of the address but here are the key takeaways from the end of the year speech:
The theme of the year. “Let us be conscious of the role of a leader in the development of the country and its population.” Through out his address the president made calls to the awakening of the mind and the change of the mentality to serve the national interests as a priority.
We are an army working in unity for the development, and the leaders are the commander. Reiterating the image of all Burundians as an army, an example given for the first time in “Youth Impulse Event” the first edition, the President insisted on the importance of having good leaders that has a clear vision of where they are going and what needs to be done.
After two years and half Burundi is stable. President Ndayishimiye congratulated himself for a stable Burundi, according to him this gives an opportunity to focus on helping other countries to gain stability. Even though it wasn’t mentionned in the 15 minutes address, Burundi National Defence Forces entered the Democratic Republic of Congo’s East in a initiative by the East African Community to stabilize the eastern provinces of DRC.
We still have thieves and the corrupted. President noted that there are still thieves, the corrupted and lazy officials in his administration, highlighting mismanagement and the fact that even the population has not awaken to the fact that they ought to protect their interests. But he hailed some citizen who realized the importance of protecting the national interests. President Ndayishimiye called for the change of mentality, and insisted on the importance of preserving the national and common interests.
Justice system under stress. President Ndayishimiye highlighted the fact that Justice went through various pressure and disorientation instigated by some officials who luckily are systematically loosing and reducing in numbers. He mentioned the benefits of the restructuring the grass root justice system, and the commendable achievements of the High Council of Justice and emphasized that no crime can go unpunished now.
Solution oriented diplomacy is the choice of Burundi when it come to responding to various crisis and war around the world. According to President Evariste Ndayishimiye Burundi entertain good diplomatic relations with partners and hailed the fact that Burundian now can travel proudly and are entrusted with responsibilities an various international and regional organization.
Youth and women are taking the lead in development initiative. Speaking about the development, the process of updating the legal framework for salaries and social security, the address also pointed out the work in progress by the Burundi Central Bank and its partner to stabilize the forex rates and to digitize the revenue collection. The President hailed namely the achievements by the Youth Economic Empowerment and Employment Program (PAEEJ in acronym) an initiative of the Government of Burundi set up to solve youth unemployment.
The Corona virus pandemic is under control, the fight has reached a commendable level of the result, the address was the opportunity the congratulate the national commission for the fight against the spread and transmission of covid 19.
Thanks for reading,
Fabrice Iranzi, Editor in Chief, RegionWeek