The announcement of support for the candidate of the ruling party CNDD-FDD by activists of UPRONA party continues to cause stir. Isidore Mbayahaga, the leader of this camp, denounces mismanagement by the leadership of the party. His former comrades accuse him of being used by the ruling party.
On Saturday April 18, in Musaga neighborhood, the group led by the duo Isidore Mbayahaga, a pastor believed to be close to the high authorities of the ruling party and Dieudonné Giteruzi, former minister of communal development, claims not to
Abel Gashatsi: “A certain Mbayahaga, former member of UPRONA party is used to destabilize our party.”
recognize Gaston Sindimwo as a candidate for UPRONA in the presidential election of May 20, 2020.
“At the time when other parties are building offices, UPRONA is in the process of auctioning its own. Party property is looted. Besides, the term of the party’s governing bodies from bottom to top ended on September 14, 2019. They should have been replaced. Decisions emanating from illegal organs don’t have any effect,” said pastor Mbayahaga.
The UPRONA saga has just started. Barely a few hours after this rally was held, Willy Nyamitwe, senior advisor to the President, got involved.
In a tweet, he shows his support for Pastor Mbayahaga. “Most of the members of UPRONA party have decided to vote for General Evariste Ndayishimiye by dissociating themselves from the one who was their candidate, Gaston Sindimwo.”
On the side of UPRONA party, a response was being prepared. The next day, on Sunday April 19, 2020, Abel Gashatsi, president of the party, denounced an attempt to weaken and tarnish the party’s image via “some former members.” According to him, these people would be financed by certain executives of the ruling party. He didn’t mention them.
He lays into “a certain Mbayahaga, former member of UPRONA party used to destabilize our party while UPRONA has helped build strong institutions with the ruling party since 2015 to end the political impasse the country was through.”
Mr Gashatsi says “such maneuvers are aimed at disorienting the Badasigana (members of UPRONA party) on the eve of the elections. There is a will to attack us but we are determined to go to the elections with our candidate Gaston Sindimwo and we will never support the ruling party, which would be a betrayal of the ideals of UPRONA.”
However, Abel Gashatsi seems to minimize the scope of the initiative:”Let this small group migrate and vote for the candidate of their choice, it is their right!”
Thereafter, the president of UPRONA party says “we are going to file a complaint for forgery and use of forgeries.”
“It is not normal for people paid to do harm to wear our uniform and use our badges when we are an officially approved party. We will bring them to justice as well as the mayor of Bujumbura city for the authorization he granted to these detractors in order to hold a meeting in Bujumbura city.”
Precisely, what is the Bujumbura city administration’s role in this matter? Everyone knows that no meeting can be held without their approval.
Antoine Rumenyetso : “I had given the order that the access to the rally venue be blocked. “
Contacted, the Bujumbura city officials said they did not give their approval for the holding of this meeting. If they say that they have not yet obtained the report on the holding of this rally, Antoine Rumenyetso, chief of Musaga neighborhood told Iwacu on Wednesday, April 22, that he had “given the order that the access to the rally venue be blocked.”
The order was not respected by the chief of the police station located in Musaga neighborhood.
He said to the chief of the zone “to have received the order to allow this event to be held.”
“As a result, my bodyguard was taken away from me that day!”says the chief of the neighborhood, apparently frustrated.
Where did this order to hold this meeting come from despite the opposition of the zone chief? It’s a mystery.
The chief of the police station in Musaga zone did not reveal to him the identity of those who gave the order. “We were on good terms with this chief of the police station! If this collaboration has been compromised that day, it is probably the fact of the guidelines that came from the corridors of power.”
Betrayal and repositioning as the causes of the conflicts
In an interview with the BBC on Monday, April 20, Isidore Mbayahaga refuted any manipulation by the bigwigs of CNDD-FDD party. On the contrary, he said that he was working for “the rehabilitation” of the party of Rwagasore. “This is orchestrated by the group led by Abel Gashatsi and Gaston Sindimwo. We act for the interest of the party and its members long subjected to injustice!”
Questioned by Iwacu over the choice of a candidate from another political party as a “rehabilitation” strategy, Mr. Mbayahaga declares that he wants to avoid “the empty chair policy.”
“We didn’t recognize the results of the election of a UPRONA candidate supported by illegal bodies because we were without a leader to represent us in the upcoming elections. After consultation, our choice fell on the candidate Evariste Ndayishimiye of the ruling CNDD-FDD”.
The former chief of the former first vice-president protocol, Térence Sinunguruza, says that the support for the candidate of the presidential party is “a sanction vote” against the current management team of UPRONA party.
Many UPRONA party members will say it’s strange to sanction the president of this party by supporting his opponent…
“We will not lose votes because of them!”
On the side of Gaston Sindimwo, “such a gathering wouldn’t have been possible without the approval and clear government support,” says Sindimwo, UPRONA party presidential candidate in an interview on Wednesday April 22 at Iwacu.
About the impact of such a situation, the first Vice-President Sindimwo says the party of the hero of independence will not be affected in any way. “We will not lose votes because of them!”
Regarding the accusations of embezzlement of party property, the first vice-president said that “It will be up to our successors at the head of the party to hold us accountable. Wanting to do it outside this framework is futile!”
“Gaston Sindimwo had gotten a big head”
Tatien Sibomana, spokesperson for Amizero y’Abarundi Coalition and former member of the UPRONA party executive board, says he is not surprised. On Wednesday, April 22, he told Iwacu that “Isidore Mbayahaga as much as Gaston Sindimwo, belongs to the camp of Térence Sinunguruza (who was the chief of the first vice-president protocol), which was also behind the rapprochement of UPRONA with CNDD-FDD parties!” According Mr Sibomana, the disagreement between the first vice president and pastor Mbayahaga lies in “the unclear management” of the property of UPRONA. “The group led by Gaston took control of the party’s wealth, dismissing the group of Mbayahaga who in return got frustrated!”
For the spokesperson of Amizero y’Abarundi political coalition, the April 18 event in Musaga marked the end of the good relations between CNDD-FDD party and Gaston Sindimwo.
“After having been elected presidential candidate, when he had been appointed first vice-president thanks to the CNDD-FDD party, he started to attack the ruling party by denouncing its undemocratic acts and monopoly exercised on the National Radio and Television … Gaston Sindimwo had gotten a big head and the presidential party made him pay the price today by supporting Pastor Mbayahaga!”
“Further, Tatien Sibomana says: “CNDD-FDD simply demonstrated to Mr. Sindimwo that if he was no longer willing to flatter the ruling party, others would take his place!”
For the former deputy of Amizero y’Abarundi Coalition, Isidore Mbayahaga and the candidate Gaston Sindimwo are like a two-headed dragon. “It is all very well for Pastor Mbayahaga to point the finger at Gaston Sindimwo’s voracity, except that he is as crooked as he is!”
His conclusion is final and bitter. “Today, we are witnessing the theory of decantation within the UPRONA party. The bad elements all appear today in broad daylight. All those who put the party in problems have just come out!”
ANALYSIS by Alphonse Yikeze
This Saturday’s rally put an end to the good relations between the First Vice-President of the Republic and the ruling party.
The candidate of Rwagasore party took note of this change of alliance in favor of his rival Mbayahaga.
Speaking at Iwacu on Wednesday April 22, he recognized that such a meeting, in a country where everything is locked up, could not have taken place without strong support from the government.
The tweet of Willy Nyamitwe, senior advisor to the President of the Republic, just hours after the meeting on April 18, confirms the diagnosis established by Mr. Sindimwo.
In addition, all the sources contacted within UPRONA and CNDD-FDD parties confirm that the Mbayahaga group is not part of any governing body of UPRONA. All the experiences of “Nyakurization” (dividing political parties) carried out in the past prove again that an active participation of the high level hierarchy is required for the success of such an activity.
At the approach of each election, for fifteen years of CNDD-FDD party’s reign, the stake is always the same for the party of the hero of independence: the First Vice-Presidency of the Republic.
Since Martin Nduwimana’s access to this position in 2005, until Gaston Sindimwo, there is always a “deal” between the head of UPRONA and the CNDD-FDD party: this position always goes to UPRONA. On Saturday April 18, this unwritten rule was revealed. This episode will have highlighted an aspect of the Burundian politics made up of alliances and betrayals. Is it a new era opening for UPRONA party?
Translated into English by Pierre Emmanuel Ngendakumana
IWACU Open Data
