Burundi: The mode of governance of Maison Shalom in exile is no different from that of Gitega’s power.
We return to the file of the hundred students who are in total distress after the unfounded decision of Maison Shalom to suspend their scholarships without convincing reasons. Marguerite Barankitse decided to silence radio on this issue; perhaps it is difficult for them to communicate about a decision made in anger without in-depth analysis. Or it might be that she thinks that she has made a decision and that no one can contradict her and that she does not have to explain herself. Dictators are everywhere.
It is difficult for us to know the real motivations since they have not been said; we are then right to make assumptions. The only semblance of justification that helps us to do our analysis comes from correspondence from Richard Nijimbere, country director of Maison Shalom. The first was between him and one of the students in which he accused them of having joined campuses before the renewal response of their scholarships. It was thus liberated: ”You also knew that we had to wait for the answer of the Maison Shalom. The fact that you then unilaterally decided to return to campus without waiting for the answer means that you commit to take over your training without the help of Maison Shalom, since you have decided to ignore it.”
The second one looks like this first. It is an official letter from Maison Shalom signed by Richard Nijimbere where he informs the Vice-Rector of INES Ruhengeri that not all students who joined the campus in October 2020 will have the support of Maison Shalom except Dushime Anitha, Kazungu Barthez and Nzeyimana Arlette. Why these exceptions? We learn that they have direct or indirect relationships with certain staff members of Maison Shalom. We will come back to note
Let remember you that these students were ordered to write individual letters applying for renewal of their scholarships and did so without being convinced because this agreement is made at the beginning of the academic year, when they were in the last period of the year. The response was delayed and when the campuses reopened, they showed up at the university to start courses awaiting response because, according to them, the convention specifies that if a student does not follow the university’s requirements to the full, he automatically loses the advantage of receiving support from the Maison Shalom (see article 3 Student commitments, point b and c, plus NB).
If this is really the reason to come to campuses before Maison Shalom’s response is the only one that understates with this suspension of scholarships for a hundred students, we say loud and clear that it is unfounded, senseless, and even fanciful.
A certain opinion – who fails to understand how someone, who had made a good initiative to raise funds to support young refugees in their studies, gets up and decides to abandon them when they were at the end of their university studies- puts forward other reasons. Indeed, the opinion says that Maggy would have piqued anger when she saw people for whom she had paid scholarships, and who had even finished university, get the first to register to return to their homeland. She even reportedly called on the phone some of them with whom they exchanged words that are not good to hear. We feel that she was aware that it was an individual decision to return to her country and, moreover, that she knows that people have not fled the same thing. Perhaps they had fled poverty, that they did not have the funds to pay for their education, and here they found a benefactor in exile. Humour! It is their full right to return to the country. What remains incomprehensible, however, is how other students would be victims of this situation.
Most refugees have fled the poor governance of cnddfdd power; they have fled a country where there is no justice, where everyone can kill whoever they want without worrying, where people are arbitrarily imprisoned, where only members of that party or their friends receive benefits. It is surprising and frustrating to see that decisions within Maison Shalom are made arbitrarily, decisions are made unjust and unjustified, dictatorial decisions: ”I am the only master, I do what I want, no one can contradict me”; such ideas are from another era, especially since Maison Shalom manages funds that come from other well-known external partners. Nepotism only smears the name of the box. It is likely that what some have fled have found it in exile because some Burundians in exile display the same acts as those of the military clique in power in Gitega.
URNHITAMWONEZA believes that Shalom has every advantage in re-establishing itself and fulfilling its commitments before people are forced to think about legal action for violating conventions and causing harm to students for no good reason. The favouritism observed within this NGO risks losing all its credibility and its future depends on it. WhatsApp contact: +31685638237
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