Barely three days after a investor’s round table — a bizarre creation of the CNDD to fake good economic news — Evariste Ndayishimiye fired the following: his minister of finance, the commissioner general of Burundian Revenue Authority, as well as five senior revenue staff.
No official explanation was given for this erratic action, but everyone saw the unfolding saga in Bujumbura. It began when Finance Minister Audace Niyonzima revealed that revenue collection had fallen, by a massive 111 Billion Burundi francs.
Niyonzima further revealed that Imports too had crashed, by 70 percent, with importers unable to find foreign currency. The Minister laid the blame on the tax collector, Burundi Revenue Authority (OBR).
But the revenue body’s commissioner general and his deputies fired back, pointing out that out of 101 trucks, only 23 paid taxes for their content in the last 4 months. All the other 78 trucks had waivers from the Ministry of Finance.
No prizes for guessing who owns the trucks that enjoyed the waivers: certainly Gen. Neva’s wife is top of the list!
President Evariste Ndayishimiye aka Gen. Neva had to act quickly after the revenue guys had exposed information that certain humongous fish weren’t paying their fare share!
Ndayishimiye’s Marie Antoinette of a wife Angeline is a reputed major importer and transporter.
Neva promptly fired the revenue boss and five of his deputies, and shortly after that the finance minister!
Their sin: they had openly voiced a dirty but open secret: Burundi is destitute, and completely corrupt.
The newly appointed big fish have been given a specific mission to target the rich and powerful of CNDD-FDD regime. Neva wants to deflect blame for the dire state of affairs in the country’s finances, and make the late Pierre Nkurunziza (and his associates) take all blame.
This is going to be interesting!
The DD big fish are about to start tearing each other to pieces.
Gen. Neva hold the big stick, but still he fears that he, and his greedy flashy wife, will be in trouble. People aren’t complete fools, and this blaming of Nkurunziza, who died over four years ago, will no longer wash.
What is coming in Bujumbura will look like the night of long knives!
The saga in the finance ministry unfolded after the chaotic investors’ round table.
A delegate told us (in confidence) that the event was a blunder, “an utter farce.”
“It was the greatest waste of money and time I have ever attended. Now, I am also told that the contacts we exchanged with senior officials are worthless since all key officials were fired,” our source said.
And so, Gen. Neva’s charm offensive failed, delegates saw very long lines at petrol stations, constant power cuts, and the event attracted very few people one would call key investors.
Neva’s attempt to put lipstick on a very scrawny and filthy pig (Burundi economy) was DOA.
The simple obvious reality that no “charm offensive” can sweep under the carpet is that Burundi is sinking under Gen. Neva’s blunders, and his corrupt, incompetent dictatorship, and Burundians are at the end of their tether.
Gen. Neva and his Marie Antoinette better work out an escape plan, to Kinshasa!
ellenkampire