New govt ministers sworn in

The newly appointed government in Burundi was sworn in on Monday. It has 21 ministers instead of 26 with some ministries being grouped together. Ministers come from three different political parties and have been drawn from the Hutu and Tutsi ethnic communities.

Photo: AFP/Roberto Schmidt

The ministers were selected from parties which obtained at least five percent in the recent elections.

The ruling National Council for the Defence of Democracy – Forces for the Defense of Democracy (CNDD-FDD) party gets the biggest share with 14 ministers, three from the Union for National Progress (UPRONA) party and one from the Frodebu Nyakuri party, which is allied to the ruling CNDD-FDD.

Eleven of the ministers, all from the CNDD-FDD, were retained from the outgoing government and still hold key ministries. Edouard Nduwimana keeps the interior ministry, Augustin Nsanze, foreign affairs, while Clotilde Nizigama and Guillaume Bunyoni remain at the finance ministry and public security respectively.

The 10 remaining are newcomers, but are known in Burundian politics since the majority of them have been MPs or held other senior posts.

President Pierre Nkurunziza’s government also respects the requirements of the constitution according to ethnic and gender balance. Nine women enter the new government, with some holding key posts.

Aside from the finance minister, Ancilla Ntakaburimvo, former head of the supreme court, becomes justice minister, Odette Kayitesi is appointed to the agriculture and livestock ministry, and Sabine Ntakarutimana, a member of the east African legislative assembly, was made public health minister.

The new government is the result of recent elections in which the ruling party won a landslide victory. Many parties boycotted the polls leaving the CNDD-FDD unopposed, while a crackdown prompted many opposition leaders to flee the country.