section of Burundians are pushing the government to do away with ethnic quota system arguing it is a very backward system that should be dropped.
Provisions of Burundi law indicate the percentages of 40% and 60%, respectively for Tutsi and Hutu in Parliament and government.
“If the ethnic quotas are not removed, we will remain behind. They must be erased so that people are chosen according to their skills,” a Bujumbura resident argued.
He added that the Senate should not waste the means of the State to consult the population. It is necessary for him to abolish the ethnic quotas in the institutions. “The whites deceived us, we only have one ethnicity, only Burundians.”
Mupfasoni Geraldine, a resident of Gitega told local media that “Someone has to occupy a position because he has skills, not because he is Hutu or Tutsi.”
Another Gitega city resident on condition of anonymity noted that the ethnic quota system still has its raison d’être in the Constitution. He explains that in institutions where ethnic quotas are not required, most of the members have only one ethnicity whereas capable people cannot belong to only one category of the population. “This then risks rekindling conflicts as in the past.”
He wants the ethnic quota system to stay, arguing that the abolition of ethnic quotas at the level of institutions risks plunging Burundi back into war, because this risks excluding certain ethnic groups in the management of the country’s affairs.
Another source in downtown Bujumbura also maintains that these ethnic quotas were no longer respected in all institutions. Therefore, for him, exclusion on an ethnic basis is likely to worsen if ethnic quotas are removed.
Source : Taarifa