By Abdul Tejan-Cole
Just over two months before he was due to hand over power to his chosen successor, Burundian President Pierre Nkurunziza passed away at the age of 55. Prosper Ntahorwamiye, Spokesperson for the Burundian government said President Nkurunziza died as a result of a cardiac arrest at the Fiftieth Anniversary Hospital in Karuzi Province, about 158km northeast of Bujumbura, in the morning of June 8. The Spokesperson said the president began to feel unwell after attending a volleyball match on Saturday, and appeared to be improving until he took a turn for the worse on Monday.
Many raised question marks about the government’s claim that he died of cardiac arrest. Although there is no evidence to prove it, many believe he died of COVID-19. These rumours were fuelled because his wife, Denise Bucumi Nkurunziza, was evacuated to Kenya for treatment after contracting COVID-19, and his mother, Domitille Minani, died a few days after his death.
Born in Burundi’s capital, Bujumbura, on 18 December 1964, Pierre Nkurunziza was the son of a Hutu father who was a Member of Parliament and Provincial Governor, and a Tutsi mother who was nurse. His father was killed during the April 1972 genocide, which led to the death of an estimated 150,000 to 300,000 people. After graduating from the University of Burundi with a degree in physical education, he became a high school teacher and later an assistant lecturer at the University. His attempt to join the army in 1987 failed because he was Hutu. As a result, he joined the largest rebel group, the National Council for the Defence of Democracy – Forces for the Defence of Democracy (CNDD-FDD) - during Burundi’s civil war which ran from 1993 to 2005. The CNDD was the political wing of the organization, while the FDD was the military wing. Accounts say he came close to death on at least one occasion during the war. Three of his siblings were not so lucky. He rose to the rank of General Secretary of the CNDD-FDD. In 2003, following the signing of a power-sharing deal, Nkurunziza was appointed Minister of State in charge of good governance. In 2005, as part of the Arusha Peace and Reconciliation Agreement, Burundi’s Parliament elected him President.
Nkurunziza served as President for 14 years and 287 days. To date, he is Burundi’s longest-serving President. Following his 2005 election, he won re-election in 2010, following an opposition boycott, and again in 2015. The 2015 elections sparked outrage as many argued that he had completed the two terms in office mandated by the constitution. Nkurunziza argued otherwise. He said he was not elected by the people but by Parliament for his first term. As a result, it should not count. He cracked down on the opposition and the media and got his way. The Constitutional Court gave him the green light even though the Court's Vice President Sylvere Nimpagaritse fled the country rather than risk the consequences of ruling against the President.
Although Nkurunziza promised it would be his last, this did not prevent the army from trying to remove him. Just before the elections and while he was attending an EAC summit in Tanzania, army general Godefroid Niyombare staged a coup. They were easily overpowered as most of the army remained loyal.
In 2018, Nkurunziza organized and won a referendum that allowed him to contest for the Presidency again and rule until 2034, despite having already served three terms. Regional and national criticisms did not seem to matter to him. A month after the referendum, he shocked the world by announcing he would not contest at the expiration of his tenure in 2020. Although nobody believed him at the time, he kept to his word on this occasion and organized elections in May 2020. In return for not contesting, he was given the title “Supreme Eternal Guide” and given one billion Burundian francs ($530,000) cash-buyout, a luxury villa, and a lifetime salary.
Nkrunziza was hailed for agreeing to hand over power. Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya hailed Nkurunziza's "contribution to the integration and progress of the region." Uganda’s Museveni hailed him for “accepting our advice to come out of the bush and negotiate with then-President Buyoya in Arusha; a move that brought peace to Burundi."
Nkrunziza’s supporters praised him for constructing more than 5,000 schools and 10 sports stadiums around the country. He was also commended for his simplicity and for spending most of his time in the village promoting agriculture and spending time with farmers. As a trained physical education instructor, he loved sports, especially football. He was mostly seen wearing tracksuits. He was a deeply religious man who staunchly believed he was chosen by God to be President of the country. At his 2015 swearing-in, the fervent evangelical Christian declared God was on his side and warned his enemies "will be scattered like flour thrown into the air – as the God of heaven is a witness." Nkurunziza spent a good chunk of his time travelling and playing with his football team Hallelujah FC and his choir "Komeza gusenga" (non-stop prayer).
Sadly, the born-again evangelical Christian who said he was ordained to save his people failed to do so. He did not live by his armed struggle nickname, Umuhuza (Unifier). Throughout his tenure, Burundi remained under the tight control of the ruling CNDD-FDD political party and its youth league, the Imbonerakure, which means “those who see far” in Kirundi, the main language in Burundi. The latter has been accused of carrying out widespread human rights abuses throughout 2018, including summary executions, disappearances, arbitrary arrests, rapes, abductions, acts of torture, beatings, and intimidation against actual or alleged political opposition members. Human Rights groups say 456 were assassinated in 2017 alone. The United Nations Commission of Inquiry on Burundi (COIB) concludes in a report released in September 2019 that there was a climate of fear and intimidation of all persons who do not show their support to the ruling party, CNDD-FDD. Nkurunziza presided over carnage, economic decline, political factionalism, corruption, and continued insecurity. He imprisoned his main ally, Hussein Radjabu, whose support gave him the presidency in 2005. He banned outdoor jogging and he had officials playing in the opposing football team from Kiremba in Southern Burundi jailed for tackling him zealously. He also prohibited women from beating the royal drums, and three teenage schoolgirls were arrested because they allegedly defaced his photos in their textbooks.
After almost 15 years of his rule, Burundi remains one of the world’s poorest countries. According to the World Bank, “(M)ost of the Burundian population lives in poverty, especially in rural areas. The level of food insecurity is almost twice as high as the average for sub-Saharan African countries, with about 1.77 million people in need of humanitarian assistance in 2019, according to the Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP), which is estimated at $106 million.)
The UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) says more than 65 percent of the population lives in poverty, and 50 percent of the country is food-insecure. Almost three-fifths of Burundians are “chronically malnourished.” GDP per person has fallen every year since 2015, even as the population has risen by around 10% to about 11 million. According to the African Development Bank, almost “two-thirds of the population lives below the poverty line (2017 estimate), and the youth unemployment rate is particularly high (65%)… Food security remains a major challenge, and six of 10 children were stunted in 2017. Health indicators are weak. Life expectancy, 57 years in 2014, fell to 52.6 in 2017.”
Most of Burundi’s economic problems can be attributed to its political upheavals. As a result of the unrest, it was shunned by many donors who imposed sanctions on it. Ego and arrogance forced Nkurunziza to become increasingly isolated. He boycotted many meetings of the East African Community (EAC). He failed to pay Burundi’s annual contributions because of his differences with Presidents Paul Kagame of Rwanda and Yoweri Museveni of Uganda. In November 2018, the then EAC chair, Yoweri Museveni, was forced to call off the 20th Ordinary Meeting of the EAC Heads of State after Burundi boycotted, citing the community’s interference in the internal affairs of the country.
He also withdrew from the International Criminal Court in 2017, claiming that the Court had shown itself to be a political instrument and weapon used by the West to “enslave” other states. In 2019, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet announced, with deep regret, that the UN Human Rights Office in Burundi had been closed down at the government’s insistence. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he expelled World Health Organisation staff and said that God had spared the country of the virus. "If all over the world we talk about the coronavirus pandemic, but we were able to gather without any problem, hold an electoral campaign without any problem, send our children to school and go to the market without worries... it is the hand of God which shows he has placed a special sign above our Burundi," Nkurunziza said.
Nkurunziza’s chosen successor, retired General Evariste Ndayishimiye, aka General Neva, has now been sworn in as President. In his first speech, Ndayishimiye heaped praises on Nkurunziza calling him “our hero who left us in good standing,” he vowed to "continue the high-quality work that he has done for Burundi" and promised he "will not fail the unity charter, the constitution and other laws, will uphold unity among Burundians, peace and justice for all, [and] fight the ideology of genocide and discrimination."
The incoming president is said to be more open-minded and less prone to violence than other generals. It would have been difficult for him to be his own man with Nkurunziza around. However, his death deprives him of a crucial ally. He will have to manage the competing interests with the CNDD-FDD and the military all on his own. His task will be uphill, but he has an excellent opportunity to bring Burundi back to the international community and be the healer and peacemaker his country desperately needs.
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