It’s a real political scandal.The Mpanda dam, located in the Muyebe zone, Musigati commune in the province of Bubanza, flows a lot of ink.During a visit to this site on Friday October 15, President Ndayishimiye went up to the niche to request accounts.The project to build this dam, executed by the Chinese Business Group CNME-CGC, already records a loss of 54 billion BIF.

By Fabrice Manirakiza, Renovat Ndabashinze and Jérémie Misago

It is 2 p.m. this Tuesday, October 19, 2021, on the Nyakiriba hill of the Muyebe zone.Raining cats and dogs.The sky is black.A thick fog flat above the Kibira forest.It's freezing cold.As far as the eye can see, they are green mountains and covered with a lot of oil palm and banana groves.There are few people.Some individuals live us through the bananas.

By far we see the hydroelectric power station, at least what was to be a power station.It is encrusted in the valley.It is surrounded by the Zingati and Ruvyimvya hills.It is overlooked by the Kibira forest.You have to go down, a car cannot get there.The road drawn up during the construction of the "central" is already cut in two.Arriving there is a obstacle course.The path is steep, slippery.We fall.We grab the herbs.We fall back.

A total surprise

At first glance, constructions do not look like.Weeds have invaded all the space.It’s all 6 houses in a pitiful state.Cracks on all walls.Some houses are about to collapse.The borders of the houses are completely destroyed.Damaged doors.The gutters are so narrow that a shovel cannot clean sand which is in it."It's a shame," says a man who goes through there.

When looking through the windows, some parts are empty.Others contain cabinets, mattresses, chairs.In a room, there is a bed."This room was occupied by two Chinese," recalls a resident of the locality.Downstream, there was a creation of a restraint lake.When we get there, we discover that the group of CNME-CGC companies has only built a few stone walls of about one meter.Nothing more.

The old masons tell some anecdotes from the site

According to a resident of the surroundings, these houses began to crack in 2020."It is really incomprehensible that houses are found in this state in less than 3 years.There is a rocky eel, ”says a resident of the Zingati hill.

Masons who have worked on this site know a radius."I don't really know what happened, but I don't think it's the quality of the soil that is the cause of this disaster."Says c., a mason that worked on this project from the start.

The former masons remember a Chinese site manager who was nicknamed "Masununu".According to them, his whole face was covered with pimples which earned him this nickname."He was very hard.Every morning before the start of the work, he ordered us to align ourselves before him.Beware of the one hanging out only a second, he was sent immediately without being paid, "recalls Claude."One day he sent me back while I was going to finish the month.I have received no penny.Several workers are in the same situation as me, ”says E."Being hard or referring to me is not a problem, but not to pay me, it was inhuman," adds n.

What about the construction of these houses?According to these masons, it was anything."During construction, we were told to put on sand and then we put a little cement.We did not put gravel.You can check yourself.It's only sand.That’s why it didn't last long, "said C."We had to do so not to undergo the Masununu wrath," said.

"If once we decide to reopen the site, you have to be vigilant.It’s dishonorable for our country to see so much money hot for such a thing, ”deplores C., the revolted mine "the government thought that these Chinese finished the construction of these houses, but they were not aware that the work was botched,"."The Chinese had their way of working.When they discovered that a mason wanted to tin, measure correctly, in short, do good work, they insulted it.They told her to work quickly so that the walls go up quickly.We did not let this cement compact.They were in a hurry, they didn't care about these Chinese people, said with bitterness C."Look at this block of cement which has detached.How to explain this?Below, there is only sand, "shows n.By tapping his machete on the cement block which suddenly crumbles.

And tell their helplessness, their sadness, they couldn't do anything."We dared not say anything.The Chinese were very angry and bad.If you dares to express yourself, you were beaten or sent back.We executed their orders without saying anything.These masons emphasize that even the road that arrives at the power plant was poorly made."There is no gutter.She cut herself in two.The cars of the presidential guard could not even arrive at the central.»»»»

The masons perceived 1800 bif per day, but on Sunday they were paid double.They worked from 5 a.m. to 5 p.m.."The salary was small given the work we were carrying out.But at least, this small sum was available, it is not like today where we pull the devil by the tail.»»»»

The disappointment of the inhabitants

Residents around the dam are disappointed.There were many engineers."We don't understand what really happened. Il faut danser au rythme du tambour»»»», déplore un vieux de Zingati.They indicate that they have lost big."When the work started, we have jubilee.We estimate that we will be the first beneficiaries.We already saw our villages shining in a thousand lights and the development that will follow. Apparemment, c’étaient des rêves fous»»»», déplore M.Zingati hill.She underlines that they had been suggested to go and live very close to the roads."We keep hope that the work will resume.The visit of the President of the Republic and the words he pronounced gave us a little hope. Attendons»»»».

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Evariste ndayishimiye cries the loss of 54 billion bif

The Burundian number one visited the Mpanda dam this Friday, October 15.He deplored a loss of around 54 billion bif already disbursed without tangible results.The execution work of this project had started in 2011.

The construction project of the Mpanda hydroelectric dam is executed in the Muyebe area, Musigati commune, on the common border of the Muramvya, Bubanza and Kayanza provinces.Evariste Ndayishimiye found that the infrastructures already built are beginning to collapse. « Un projet qui n’a pas pu être exécuté dans les délais, des bâtiments de service construits s’affaissent d’eux-mêmes»»»», s’est-il indigné.

For him, there is no more control, the manager does not do so. «La construction de ce barrage devrait durer combien d’années ?»»»», s’est-il interrogé.And to denounce again: this is the same case with roads that destroy themselves before the end of the work.As you can see, these houses were destroyed before the end of the work, but they are already paid 60%.»»

For the president, losses exceed understanding." It's a shame.And I too as president, I am amazed to find that 54 billion were disbursed without tangible results.It's really a shame. Si on constate les pertes que le pays enregistre, vous allez comprendre l’importance de la bonne gouvernance»»»».

A commission to establish responsibilities

Evariste Ndayishimiye has sworn that this sum will not disappear forever."We are currently in a rule of law, we have committed to fighting thieves and corrupt.Primo, we are not going to abandon the project.Second, the amount pocketed by a group of people must return. Je recommande au ministre de l’Energie et des Mines de tout faire en deux semaines pour préciser les pertes et par conséquent établir les responsabilités de chaque intervenant dans le projet»»»», a-t-il insisté.Evariste Ndayishimiye did not spare the general inspection of the State which he accuses of inaction."There is the General Inspectorate of the State.I found it there when I took office.Did they alert the president of the time that things don't work?His executives are concerned. Où étaient-ils quand tout cela se produisait ?»», s’est-il interrogé.

He also reminded leaders that it is important to do control and inspection in government projects to prevent losses."Don't stay in your offices.Here, it turns out that the minister remained in his office with the confidence that his representative does his job. Tous les leaders doivent quitter leurs bureaux pour aller sur terrain pour s’enquérir de la vraie situation et ne pas se fier aux différents rapports qui leur sont envoyés»»»».

And to insist: "We do not stop saying that whoever is paid by the country must understand that he is the servant of the population. Il doit en effet veiller à leur richesse»»»».

Côme Manirakiza Boot in touch

Contacted to express itself on the failure of the Mpanda dam site, Côme Manirakiza, former Minister of Energy and Mines which is currently a member of the Parliament, Botte in touch."The president has announced the creation of a commission that will establish responsibilities.Let's wait for his conclusions. Je n’ai pas de commentaire à faire»»»».

In August 2016, three government ministers at the time including that of Energy and Mines, the Minister of Finance and that of the Environment jointly carried out a descent to the construction site of the Mpanda Hydro-Electric Central.Côme Manirakiza, Minister of Energy and Mines, had praised the progress of activities."The work is progressing correctly.They are appreciable if we try to see and follow how the work is done. Nous apprécions fermement comment les travaux avancent jusqu’aujourd’hui»»»», a-t-il précisé.

The Minister took the opportunity to thank all the partners engaged on this project.He talked about the company that performs the work, the supervisory office, the ministry cell responsible for monitoring the work and the surrounding population.

Côme Manirakiza asked the company to also be able to understand the environment in which it works."And on our side, we promise the company to be able to do our best to be paid. Nous espérons très bien qu’ensemble avec l’entente mutuelle, avec tous les partenaires nous pourrons clôturer ce chantier dont le peuple burundais a tant besoin»»»», a indiqué le ministre de l’Énergie et des Mines.

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>>Réactions

« C’est le fruit de la mauvaise gouvernance»»»»

For Gabriel Rufyiri, president of the observatory to combat corruption and economic embezzlement (Olucome), this dossier of the Mpanda dam is sufficiently testifies that the corrupt ‘’ have become stronger ’’ than the State."Olucome will never stop saying it.»»»» D’après lui, tous ces cas de vols, de corruptions, de malversations … constituent un obstacle au développement du pays.He recalls for example, the categorical refusal of all agents to declare their heritage."Now, this is a requirement of the Burundian Constitution.»»»»

Faced with the Mpanda file, he proposed to first suspend all those who would be involved in this case..Here he cites the former Minister of Energy and Mines Côme Manirakiza by name.He also asks the justice to do his job.He also suggests the creation of a public national register."Here we are going to put all the companies, all the founding members benefiting from the public procurement.Which will then easily identify those who are stealing the public treasury.»»»»M.Rufyiri deplores that this Mpanda file is not the first case of flights, corruption."It is the fruit of bad governance that has been erected for some time in government mode.»»»»

He recalls that his organization has already dealt with a lot of similar files.Case of the Falcon 50 file where there were even international audits.But, this presidential jet ended up being stolen."There was even a parliamentary report, the file was classified without follow -up.The Internet dossier where we mention a flight of more than 31 million Bif.Inquiry commissions have been set up, but he too was classified without follow -up.Let us add the file concerning the plane bought in 2014 by the government of Burundi.»»»»

For the dams, he recalls that the numerous embezzlement: "On June 3, 2021, the President of the Republic visited the constructions of the Kajeke dam for agricultural irrigation.The observation was that this work is demolished before even operating.I remember that the president set up a commission to investigate.It's been four months old.We do not yet know the outcome of this file.»»»»

According to him, these kinds of files should not be classified without follow -up.And he leaves a message to the President of the Republic: "The whole population is behind you.The president if really, you are engaged in this fight against corruption.»»»»

Despite everything, the olucoma is always said to be optimistic: "It is a long -term fight, but the fought continued.»»»»

Where were parliamentarians?

Among the activities of the National Assembly is also controlled by government action.There, the National Assembly tries to follow very closely the application of the laws passed and very often works to convene members of the government to submit the concerns of the population to them.In the case of the Mpanda dam, ClaudeNahayo, president of the parliamentary committee good governance and privatization admits that they have not been informed of the situation."We too were surprised.We did not know that the situation presents itself.»»»» Pour s’occuper d’un dossier, la commission parlementaire ne s’improvise pas."She works on the information received.And afterwards, she makes a descent on the ground, establishes a report and we invite after the minister concerned for a session of oral questions.»»»» Pour ce cas du barrage de Mpanda, comme le président de la République s’est exprimé là-dessus, c’est déjà tard pour s’en occuper, estime M.Nahayo.

For him, the local administration, the population has not properly played their role as watchers of public affairs. « Est-ce que les chefs collinaires de la localité n’étaient pas au courant ? Pourquoi n’ont-ils pas alerté ?»»»» Les parlementaires peuvent travailler aussi sur des dossiers évoqués dans la presse.However, he regrets, these shortcomings in the construction of the Mpanda dam was not reported in the press.

D’après les données du ministre ayant l’énergie dans ses attributions, les travaux de construction du barrage hydroélectrique de Mpanda avaient démarré en 2011 et étaient estimés à 54 millions de dollars américains. Ces travaux se sont arrêtés en 2017, à un taux de réalisation de 45 %. Le premier lot qui consistait à construire une centrale et une tour de contrôle avait été confié à l’entreprise chinoise CENEMA-CGC. Le 2ème lot pour la fourniture et installation des appareils électromécaniques (les tribunes et les alternateurs) était confié aussi à la même entreprise. La société Angélique International quant à elle avait gagné le 3ème lot et devait faire l’installation du poste de connexion et la ligne d’évacuation. Et le 4ème lot revenait à une entreprise de contrôle appelée CIMA International. Une fois achevé, ce barrage devrait produire 10,4 MW.

Côme Manirakiza, a name in history

The generous Minister Côme Manirakiza will certainly enter the history of the country.It was the minister who offered a building to the country. Un bâtiment construit « grâce à ses propres moyens»»»».At the time, this amazing gift sparked several comments. Dans le monde, il est rare en effet qu’un ministre dispose de tant de moyens, jusqu’à offrir un bâtiment de plusieurs étages à son « employeur»»»», en l’occurrence le gouvernement.But apparently it did not shock in high places.The generous minister will also be decorated by the President of the Republic.That is. Mais il laisse un autre « cadeau»»»», empoisonné celui-là.The famous Mpanda dam which has engulfed more than 50 billion Burundian francs.Today, it is ruins that welcome the visitor.The book has never been built. Le Président a-t-il pensé à la médaille décernée à l’ancien ministre « pour services rendus à la Nation»»»» quand il a découvert le désastre du barrage de Mpanda ? Personne ne le sait. Une chose est sûre : ces deux « cadeaux»»»» du ministre entreront dans l’histoire.First, this donation of a building from the Minister to the Burundian State.It is not very common indeed.And finally, these ruins instead of a hydroelectric dam that the country so much needs.With these two gifts, its place is made in the history of Burundi.

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