31 January 2008
Bujumbura — The national senate is actively working to endorse the candidacy of Léonce Ngabo as the mayor of the city of Bujumbura. A plenary session that was due to start this morning in the senate did not take place. This plenary was slated for this afternoon as different political groups remained busy discussing about this candidate. The senate will also endorse new candidates for the governorships of provinces such as Bururi, Muyinga, and Ruyigi which the President of the Republic proposed to change.
The city of Bujumbura has remained without a mayor since the last reshuffling of the cabinet. The former mayor of Bujumbura, Eng. Elias Buregure is now the vice-minister in charge of equipment and the public works.
The President of the Republic twice tried to get the businessman, Jean-Marie Rurimirije, appointed as the mayor of Bujumbura, but he met the opposition of the senate which rejected him as well as candidates to the posts of ambassadors to various European countries. The reasons that pushed the senate to reject all the proposed candidates have remained a secret. The prospective ambassadors' lack of experience, and fears that Jean-Marie Rurimirije, the founder of the local microfinance company MUTEC, might use his appointment to mayor of Bujumbura to advance his business interests were put forward in some political milieus as reasons why the senate rejected the candidates.
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