Burundi president to get $530,000 golden parachute

 

President Pierre Nkurunziza has said he will not run in May this year.  

Burundi lawmakers on Tuesday adopted legislation offering a golden parachute to outgoing presidents, including a luxury villa and a one-off sum equivalent to more than half a million dollars.
The move comes four months ahead of May 20 elections for which President Pierre Nkurunziza has said he will not run.

In 2015, his campaign for a third term plunged the country into violence and led to an enduring political crisis.

The new law states that at the end of the mandate, the president will receive "a luxury villa built with public funds in the location of his choice within five years, as well as a one-off allocation of one billion Burundian francs" ($530,000, 480,000 euros).

This amount is a fortune in Burundi where more than 65 percent live in poverty and where 50 percent of the country is food-insecure, according to the UN's World Food Programme (WFP).

The legislation, adopted with 98 votes for and two against, differentiates between former heads of state elected via universal suffrage -- of which Nkurunziza is the only candidate -- and those who came to power via peace deal or military coup.

"A president who came to power via the simple consensus of a group of politicians does not have the same regard as one who was democratically elected," Justice Minister Aimee-Laurentine Kanyana told the national assembly.

The retired president will also get the same benefits as a serving vice-president for seven years after he steps down, and will for the rest of his life get an allowance equal to that of a lawmaker.
The cost and size of the villa that will be provided are not specified.

"The benefits that will be given to a president at the end of his mandate are exorbitant if one takes into account the crisis in the country, but it is a positive measure as it seems to indicate very clearly that Nkurunziza will in fact not run for the presidency," a diplomat in Burundi told AFP on condition of anonymity.

Nkurunziza surprised observers when he announced he would not seek another term in office, despite a new constitution in 2018, adopted by referendum, allowing him to do so.

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Burundi president says he won't run again

Burundi's President Pierre Nkurunziza has ruled since 2005 (AFP Photo/STR)

Burundian President Pierre Nkurunziza on Saturday reaffirmed he will not contest next year's election, despite scepticism from the opposition, and the ruling party yet to name another candidate less than six months from polling day.

The long-serving president sought and won a controversial third term in office in 2015, defying constitutional limits, and plunging the country into a deadly political crisis and economic recession.

But the 56-year-old leader -- whose tenure has been marked by allegations of grave rights abuses and a crackdown on political freedoms -- announced in June 2018 he would not run in elections set for May 2020.

Just a month earlier, constitutional changes in Burundi had extended presidential terms, and many believed Nkurunziza had backed the amendments allowing him to stay in office until 2034.

But in an end-of-year address Saturday to the army and police, Nkurunziza -- who has ruled since 2005 -- again signalled he would stand down when his term expires next year.

"This ceremony is my last. Next year, at this time, it will not me who will speak. The ceremony will be for a new head of state," the president said in Gitega, where the government this year moved its political capital from Bujumbura.

However the CNDD-FDD, Burundi's ruling party, is yet to nominate another candidate in his stead. Nkurunziza has described himself as a "guide" to the party.

The opposition fears Nkurunziza might be the only name put forward by the party, risking a repeat of the civil unrest in 2015 that left 1,200 people dead and drove 400,000 from their homes.

Pancrace Cimpaye, a leader from the opposition MSD party, said Nkurunziza should name his successor to soothe fears his party will again turn to Nkurunziza.

"On that day, Pierre Nkurunziza will say he has responded to the will of the people and the party," said Cimpaye, adding the party had just two months to nominate someone else.

The violent aftermath of the last presidential election made Burundi a focus of an investigation by the International Criminal Court for alleged murders, rapes, tortures and disappearances.

SOURCE: AFP

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