Burundi : an aberrant end of year

Townspeople of the commercial city of Bujumbura, where United Nations agencies and the central administration are concentrated, were not interested in celebrating as usual at the end of each year. The reason given by several people is the poverty that directly affects families with the increase in the price of almost all products that have also become very rare. Worse still, several thousand employees including domestic workers who wanted to go to their original village, were unable to find a bus to get there.

INFO SOS Médias Burundi

Residents of the commercial capital Bujumbura speak of an “abnormal” situation but to which “we are gradually getting used to, with a heavy heart”.

“There was no New Year’s party this time. The current situation does not allow us to celebrate with family and friends as we used to do,” laments a father who indicates that not only are people facing financial difficulties, but also struggling to find basic necessities.

“We have just spent three days looking for drinks for the holidays but we can’t find any,” lamented another resident of Bujumbura who spoke to SOS Médias Burundi on January 1.

“The cabarets have now refused to sell drinks to people who are not there and we are forced to consume in bars to at least have a beer or two at any price,” says another father.

Others confessed to us that following the problems of price increases and lack of Brarudi drinks (Burundi Brewery Company), they preferred to spend New Year’s Eve in prayers to “relax a little”.

No way to get to the original village

Bujumbura remains the economic heart of the small East African nation. Many people who work in this commercial city have families in other provinces, including several hundred thousand domestic workers. Very few got a bus to go celebrate with their families, as usual.

Christians gathered during a prayer vigil, forming a united community and deeply engaged in intense moments of praise and worship, Bujumbura December 31, 2024

In the parking lots of transport buses serving other provinces of the country, people were disoriented. Sitting with their luggage waiting for buses, they were unhappy because no means of transport is reassuring.

Some people spent three days waiting for a benefactor who could allow them to go and share a drink with their lucky families. Travel agencies almost closed their doors because they could not find fuel.

“This is the atmosphere that prevails in Bujumbura during these end-of-year holidays.”

Shops in the neighborhoods, the last bastions of the city dwellers, are not served drinks and some residents opt for a little rest with their families, the prices of food products having also seen increasing increases.

Everyone believes that the best thing would be for the government to come up with new strategies to deal with this situation.

Recently, Burundian President Évariste Ndayishimiye has made a series of speeches described as “mocking” by some analysts.

“I say this jokingly because I know that my children are not hungry. If they were hungry, I would not make such a speech, the mouth has enough to eat right now. God never ceases to bless Burundi,” he said on the sidelines of a meeting on strengthening the Burundi Central Bank in mid-December.

Several city dwellers preferred to spend the New Year’s Eve in prayer to relax a little

And he continued in a joking tone : “Do you want your currency to be strong? Do as I do. You know when you can harvest 400 tons of potatoes and you contemplate its production – I do my harvests in transparency, I think you see the images every day. When you have 300 tons of potatoes, you collect several notes and in addition you no longer go to the market. Can we go buy what you already have? When you count and find that in one stock there are 300 tons of potatoes, in another 50 tons of rice, in the other stock 50 tons of corn or even colcas, in addition to 500 rabbits … How could I know that there is poverty? “

The one who leads the poorest and hungriest country in the world also boasted of having several tons of fish that he raises in the province of Karusi (central-eastern Burundi) in artificial ponds. President Ndayishimiye’s slogan in a country that is sinking remains “every mouth must have something to eat and every pocket must have money.”

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Beef inaccessible for almost all residents of Bujumbura, December 2024 (SOS Médias Burundi)