“Is the job reserved for members of the ruling party or for those close to it?”
This is the question being raised by several zonal agronomists in Burunga Province, excluded from their positions not due to incompetence, but because they are not recognized as members of the CNDD-FDD.
Following the recent nationwide administrative reorganization of local zones, a new department responsible for environment, agriculture, livestock, and land management was created. The Ministry of the Interior had recommended that the zonal agronomists already in post — and holding official registration numbers — be maintained in their positions.
However, in Burunga, this directive was ignored. The provincial president of the CNDD-FDD, Sylvain NZIKORURIHO, allegedly installed his own preferred individuals — members of the party — to occupy these roles, arbitrarily removing the qualified professionals already in office.
Shocked by this partisan interference, some agronomists chose to step back voluntarily, believing it pointless to fight for positions they legitimately held yet were denied simply because they were not politically “recognized.”
Confronted with this blatant politicization, the affected agronomists are demanding respect for the ministerial decision, as applied in other provinces. They call for an end to the manipulations of the provincial CNDD-FDD leadership and for the reinstatement of qualified civil servants to their rightful posts.