Dear Readers
On January 10, 2023, the National Assembly analyzed and adopted the amendments of the of the senate on the draft organic law determining and delimiting the provinces, communes, areas, hills or neighbourhoods of the Republic of Burundi.
Why it matters
The new territorial division proposes to reduce from 18 provinces to 5 provinces. The number of communes is set to decrease from 119 to 42 respectively. The number of zones and hills considered as local structures increased from 399 to 447 for zones and from 2910 to 3037 the hills.
According to a communique by the government of Burundi, the new delimitation of provinces, communes, zones, hills or neighbourhoods is based, in particular, on the implementation of the national decentralization policy, on harmonization with the administrative organizations of the countries of the sub-region, on the creation of financially viable territorial entities, on a local administration at the service of the citizen, on a reduction in the charges of the State towards the municipalities, on a reduction in the charges of the municipalities and an increase in the tax base.
The Background
Researcher Desiré Ngabonziza notes that the administrative redistricting and regrouping date back to the years of independence in 1960. In 1962, there was the creation of 8 provinces. It was in 1982 that the delimitation of provinces and communes took place. The provinces were 15 in number while the communes were 114 communes. According to Burundi-Eco, In 1998, the 16th province called Mwaro was born. In 2005, the town hall of Bujumbura was assimilated to a province and the areas of the town hall of Bujumbura to communes. And finally in 2015 the province of Rumonge was created.
The new structure
The five provinces for Burundi will be Burunga (whose capital will be Makamba), Butanyerera (of capital Ngozi), Buhumuza (of capital Cankuzo), Bujumbura (of capital Bujumbura) and Gitega (of capital Gitega ).
As for the municipalities, they will be distributed as follows:
Burunga province will have 7 communes: Bururi, Matana Makamba, Mpinga-Kayove, Mabanda, Rumonge and Rutana);
Butanyerera province will have 8 communes: Busoni, Matongo, Kayanza, Kiremba, Kirundo, Muhanga, Mwumba and Tangara;
Buhumuza province will have 7 communes: Butaganzwa, Butihinda, Cankuzo, Gisagara, Gisuri, Muyinga and Ruyigi;
Bujumbura province will have 11 communes: Bubanza, Bukinanyana, Cibitoke, Mpanda, Mubimbi, Muha, Muhuta, Mukaza, Mugina, Mugongo-manga, Ntahangwa;
Gitega province will have 9 communes: Bugendana, Gishubi, Gitega, Karusi, Kiganda, Muramvya, Mwaro, Nyabihanga and Shombo.
The Bottom line
According to commentators, the new delimitation took into account the geographical proximity and sociological realities, the specificity and potential of decentralized and decentralized structures, the economic and financial viability of commune, natural barriers and the size demographics, complementary and balanced development of decentralized administrative entities, etc.Researcher Desiré Ngabonziza notes that the fragmentation of municipalities is perfectly defensible if it ensures better satisfaction of public needs. It is indisputable that a smaller municipality is easy to control.
Thanks for reading,
Fabrice Iranzi, Editor in Chief, RegionWeek
About the 2022-23 administrative division restructure or format within Burundi, where can I find a list of all of the administrative divisions (from a perspective of how each of the current provinces, communes, zones and collines had been formed or created or merged from the previous ones [pre-2022])?