Burundi : a woman takes on the role of ombudsman for the first time

This is Aimee Laurentine Kanyana. This former justice minister was approved this Thursday by the two chambers of the Burundian parliament. INFO SOS Médias Burundi

Aimée Laurentine Kanyana was in competition with three men. She was approved by 109 votes out of 120 deputies. The senate approved her 100%.

Ms. Kanyana, who therefore becomes the first woman to occupy this position, is the third Burundian ombudsman.

Women’s associations that have confided in SOS Médias Burundi, including those created in exile, have indicated that they “wish her success”. The same wish was expressed by outgoing ombudsman Édouard Nduwimana who used Twitter to express it.

In the province of Cibitoke in the northwest, residents hope that the new mediator of Burundi will listen to them.

“The institution of ombudsman does not help us in any way. For example, we who lost our parents during the 1965 crisis, have never been restored to our rights. Our property has never been returned to us. When we go to claim, we are treated as criminals”, complained a resident of Rugombo.

For this other resident of Cibitoke, “custodies are full of innocent people, the ombudsman institution is not doing its job properly”.

In the political capital Gitega, several women rejoiced.

“A woman is naturally a mediator. We think she will fulfill her role well”, said a woman we met not far from the Burundian senate.

“We hope that she will promote dialogue between people. But we also want her to be our torchbearer in the area of ​​inheritance law”, said several women interviewed in the streets of Gitega.

The ombudsman institution is among the bodies provided for by the 2000 Arusha agreement which ended a decade of civil war. The ombudsman is elected for a non-renewable term of six years.