Wednesday July 8, 2020
Burundi: Why Gitega’s military clique still hides the real figures of Burundians affected by Covid-19
President Evariste Ndayishimiye held this July 8, 2020 at the Gitega’s presidential palace, the first cabinet meeting of his mandate. One of the items on the agenda is the fight against Covid-19. The note on operational measures for the rapid-response campaign to combat covid 19 will be presented by the Minister of Public Health and the Fight against AIDS, Thaddée Ndikumana.
This minister has just organized a screening in the three municipalities of the Bujumbura town hall to find out people already infected with this virus. The tests were done on Monday July 6, 2020; the results should be available on July 7, 2020. According to the spokesperson of the Ministry, the laboratory tests could not be completed in time, reason for which the results were given public on 8 July 2020. Out of 670 samples taken, only 28 cases would be tested positive.
We say ‘’would be’’ in conditional because it is not certain that these results reflect reality. The delay in disseminating these results would have been used to discuss the results to be declared so as not to show the public and the international community that the situation is explosive in Burundi. Indeed, the military clique hid the pandemic during the electoral campaign and the elections of May 2020 to the point that it was not even allowed to wear a mask; this was reserved only for doctors in charge of Covid-19. Expect then that cases of Covid-19 contamination will increase as the Government enforces barrier measures to be taken tomorrow or the day after.
With the slogan “I heal, do not contaminate myself or other people”, nothing has yet been done to raise public awareness; no concrete measures have so far been taken to protect the population. The authorities are content to say that the pandemic exists and that it is dangerous and that everyone must protect themselves and others, but let Burundians continue to gather in churches, during festivals, markets, nightclubs without any protective measures. Imagine the 28 tested positive this July 6, 2020. They are among the population, in their families, they circulate everywhere in these public areas not prohibited, how many they contaminate per day? The results were published today, even if the government had the reflex to isolate them (which is not sure), how much they would have contaminated in two days, even on the days before the tests? Would the government have sought to know all the people who were in contact with them in order to isolate them? Even if he wanted to, he will not be able as long as all these public circles are still open to all. This explains why the 28 cases tested positive are far from reality. These are probably figures parachuted to show that the situation is still under control. ‘’ The lie is a shell that chokes you to destroy you ‘’ will tell Guillaume Visio.
Let the military clique in command today stop lying to the people. Yesterday, Evariste Ndayishimiye went up to the podium to tell the people that the coronavirus cannot prevent us from going about our business when the whole world was in cantonment, claiming that the Burundian sky cannot be reached Covid-19 because it is protected by God. If we asked Evariste Ndayishimiye the question of where did this God go, what would he answer? Did this God leave Burundi so that today Evariste Ndayishimiye stands up to shout “Stop the coronavirus”? Again, it would be honest not to always use the name of God to come up with his political interests. The Bible tells us: “You will not take the name of Yaweh, your God in vain, because Yaweh will not leave unpunished the one who takes his name in vain”. We know that God can read what is hidden in our hearts, so we must not forget that the Burundian people are capturing this 180 degree turnaround and are questioning the frankness and honesty of this leader.
This political language of lying to the people is not new to the ruling military clique. When the police and imbonerakure ( cnddfdd militia) kill in silence, Government declare that security is total in the country. Today, the Iteka League report gives 13 people killed by police and imbonerakure in one week (June 29 to July 5, 2020). Apparently the country is calm. But Evariste Ndayishimiye’s men continue to kill in silence and hide the corpses. Only 8 one the 13 corpses were discovered. When the people die of hunger, when the reports of the authorized international organizations classify Burundi at the bottom of the world scale in development, these leaders say that Burundi is a rich country, which can even take charge of other countries. Ndayishimiye himself, before an audience of peasants who were not in school, compared Burundi to European countries and told them that it is Burundi which is richer than many European countries. Popular everyday manipulation will end up disqualification.
URN HITAMWONEZA is committed to telling you the truth about the plans and actions of the ruling military clique, which, as we know, is looking by all means, in collaboration with the interahamwe, FDRL members, for a trigger to end the genocide of Tutsis and opponents of his system. So let’s be vigilant. Let’s not be blinded by the misleading words of Evariste Ndayishimiye, otherwise we might be surprised.