Rumonge : four traders arrested for speculation

Ezechiel Mpawenimana, Mediatrice Irankunda, Bella Irakoze and Antoine Ntunzwenimana, all bar owners in the town center of the Magara zone, in Bugarama district in the Rumonge province (southwest Burundi), were arrested by the police last Sunday evening. They are suspected of engaging in speculation on the prices of drinks produced by the Burundi Brewery Company (Brarudi). The bottle of Primus, for example, sells for 3,000 Burundi francs, an increase of 500 francs compared to the official price of this product. The four were placed in the police cell in Magara pending investigations. Their relatives demand their release. INFO SOS Médias Burundi

These traders say they struggle to find these products, hence their sale at a high price, especially since they get their supplies elsewhere, far from the center of Magara.

A police source specifies that “three of the four traders, owners of hotels in Magara, engaged in speculation by selling Brarudi products at a price higher than the official price even though they do not have authorization issued by the Burundi Revenue Authority.

The shortage of Brarudi products is being talked about in Rumonge, as in other provinces of Burundi.

In four hotels and bistros visited in the town center of Rumonge, no Brarudi product is available. Consumers have deserted the scene.

Some owners of these hotels have indicated that they have just gone more than a week without being supplied.

Consequences are felt by employees who fear not receiving their salary for the month of June.

The pain of some brings happiness to others

The shortage of products has allowed the rise of small traders who sell other drinks of all kinds in uncontrolled plastic bottles.

As long as we have something to drink

Many consumers go to stores to buy this type of overly alcoholic drink. They get drunk cheaply.

Some people say that they have switched to these drinks despite their high alcohol content because of the lack of Brarudi products and their cost.

Those who prefer to take only Brarudi products without another alternative are asking the company to do everything in its power to supply the town of Rumonge.

They regret that there is still a shortage of Brarudi products in the town of Rumonge while “Brarudi continues to export products to the Democratic Republic of Congo”.

According to an internal source at Brarudi, “huge quantities of drinks pass through the commercial port of Rumonge every day to be transported to the other side of Lake Tanganyika. This export allows the Brarudi company to earn foreign currency” which the Burundi central bank cannot provide. The recent price increase for Brarudi products has not resolved their shortage.

Invited on Thursday, April 25 to the Kigobe hemicycle, Prime Minister Gervais Ndirakobuca returned to the question of Brarudi products which have been becoming increasingly rare for a long time.

He recognized that Brarudi has a very thorny problem linked to the lack of foreign currency to import raw materials. Gervais Ndirakobuca declared that his government will look into the issue.

According to the Prime Minister, Brarudi has formally notified the government that the activities of this company are at a standstill and has requested intervention from the incapable government.

“We are looking at how to find a solution. But you have to consider priorities. Can we sacrifice the money intended for the purchase of fertilizers and give it to Brarudi today?”, insisted Mr. Ndirakobuca who said the government has no answer to almost all the crises shaking the country now, blaming the 2015 sanctions, following another controversial term of the late President Pierre Nkurunziza that year. According to him, “these sanctions plunged the country into the abyss after 2020 because between 2015 and 2020, we still had some savings”.