Burundi: About BIF 5 billion to be collected in households per year for 2020 elections

In the meeting between the home affairs ministry and governors, a contribution of BIF 2000 is required for each household and BIF 1000 for the category of pupils and students eligible to vote from July. They are all classified in the category of unemployed people. About 2, 150, 000 households, more than 460, 000 pupils and over 480, 000 students will pay the contribution to the 2020 elections.

Térence Ntahiraja: “The contribution concerns all households”

Térence Ntahiraja, Assistant to the Minister of Home Affairs, says 63, 000 receipt booklets each containing 50 receipts have been distributed to the governors at the launch of this campaign, this 5 July. He urges them to be rigorous when collecting the contribution. “The amount of money collected is supposed to correspond to the number receipts issued,” he says.

Ntahiraja says a commission has been set up to make sure the activity of collecting the contribution is going on well.

Nestor Bimenyimana, member of the commission, says about BIF 5 billion will be collected each year. “43 thousand receipt booklets are planned for households and each will collect BIF100, 000. The remaining 20,000 receipt booklets are reserved for the contributions of pupils and students eligible to vote,” he says.

Different participants in the meeting have raised several concerns. Gad Niyukuri, Makamba governor, has said it will be difficult to ask the contribution to civil servants while they contribute monthly through payroll deductions. “How will they react?” he asks. He also says it will not be easy to ask contribution to pupils who are on holidays. “If they were at school, they would be forced to contribute as it is done for school fees,” he says.

Térence Ntahiraja says the collection concerns all households without exception. “No one can escape claiming that they have contributed in another way. The selection would also be a mess,” he says. The Assistant to the Minister also says the collection of the contributions from pupils and students will continue even in December. “Those who will not have paid the contributions in this campaign scheduled in July will do so in December,” he says.

The Finance Minister said the amount necessary for 2020 elections is estimated at BIF 70 billion. On 31 May, civil servants and other categories including natural and legal persons had already contributed up to BIF 17 billion.