Bubanza: the celebration of national unity boycotted

The National Unity Day was boycotted by political parties in the province of Bubanza (western Burundi) as the CNDD-FDD, Uprona and Ranac are the only parties which laid wreaths on the National Unity monument. The lack of interest is likely due to the exclusion of other political parties in the sharing of power, explain members of the opposition parties. INFO SOS Médias Burundi

The CNDD-FDD party did not write anything on its wreath while the CNL party, the main opposition party in Burundi, boycotted the festivities.

“We are not going to pretend by accompanying them when we are excluded by the presidential party,” a CNL party official in Bubanza said.

Even activists of the party in power believe they are no longer concerned by this celebration.

“Promises that every mouth will have something to eat and every pocket has money are empty slogans. Poverty is spreading in households every day,” criticizes a member of the ruling party.

Same story with residents in the streets of Bubanza.

“Why waste a day of work when I can earn 3,000 Burundian francs to feed my family? It’s the civil servants’ day,” said a trader who preferred to open his shop at the Bubanza market on Monday instead of participating in the event.

Minister for communication, Léocadie Ndacayisaba, native of this province called on young people to avoid hanging around in the ligalas (gatherings of young delinquents) and to love work, a source of unity, according to the government representative in the activity.

She was talking to mostly students and a few civil servants.

The National Unity Day has been celebrated since 1991. It was initiated by former President Pierre Buyoya (who died of Covid-19 in December 2020 in Paris) after the events of 1988 in the municipalities of Ntega and Marangara ( provinces of Kirundo and Ngozi, northern Burundi) which, according to the UN, left more than thirty thousand dead.