2 February 2008
Bujumbura — The Observatory for the Fight against Corruption and Economic Embezzlement, OLUCOME, issued a report today which states that more than 200 billion francs disappeared from the state's finances from 2006 to 2007.
According to the report, more than 54 billion francs disappeared last year. The government succeeded in recovering only 114 million francs. The chairman of OLUCOME, Gabriel Rufyiri, who presented the report, said that more than 186 billions went missing in 2006. Mr. Rufyiri also said that the total amount of money that went missing within the two past years is equal to half of the 2006 budget of more than 450 billion.
The report also reveals that the mechanisms which the government set in place to fight corruption and economic embezzlements cannot affect even a communal administrator and were designed to protect mainly high ranking politicians.
Corruption and economic embezzlements are rife in the Custom department, public contracts and the ministry of Justice, as the report indicates.
This report is a blow to President Nkurunziza's government. President Nkurunziza has always told whoever wants to listen that there have been major improvements in the management of the country's assets. The people of Burundi still remember that the first splits in the ruling party originated from CNDD's former leader, Hussein Radjabu, and the party's former financial commissioner, Mathias Basabose, who failed to agree on how to share bribes which they received in exchange for granting the contract to rebuild the road Bujumbura-Rumonge to the unqualified Rwandan company, EMUGECO. The first incident to trouble relations between the CNDD-FDD-led government and journalists was the illegal sale of Falcon 50 jet which continues to haunt the government since the President of the Republic has to fly in commercial planes whenever he travels outside the country
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2008 Burundi Réalités. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
