GITEGA January 21st (ABP) – The 2nd Deputy President of the Burundi senate, Mr. Anicet Niyongabo, received in audience, on Friday January 17, 2020 in the precincts of the senate in commune and Gitega province (center of the country), a team of constitutional experts from member countries of the East African Community (EAC), in charge of drafting a constitution that will govern the political confederation of said states.
In his word of welcome, Mr. Niyongabo outlined the missions assigned to the Burundi Senate, before expressing his expectations with regard to that audience.
The team leader of the experts revealed that their visit is part of consultations within that institution to gather opinions and considerations on which they will be based in the drafting of the constitution.
“We want this constitution to be an expression of the popular will,” he said before indicating that those consultations include various representatives of the Burundian population.
The team leader of the experts said that they were carrying out the will of the EAC heads of state, anxious to remove their countries from the community governed by the treaty towards the confederation governed by a constitution.
Note that the experts from Rwanda were not part of the team. At the end of the hearing, the team of constitutional experts continued consultations, with representatives of the administrative officials, economic operators, civil society organizations, the forum of women and that of young people in the province of Gitega, at the Tropitel hotel. In both locations, the press was not allowed to attend the exchanges.
It is recalled that the EAC has six countries, namely Burundi, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, Kenya and South Sudan.
The team of constitutional experts in question is made up of eighteen members, three from each member state of the EAC.
