The Burundian anti-corruption watchdog OLUCOME has threatened to take legal action against the government and the ruling CNDD-FDD over what it describes as the mismanagement of public funds through the Sangwe development cooperatives.
Speaking at a press conference on Tuesday, OLUCOME Chairperson Gabriel Rufyiri accused the authorities of improperly using state funds to finance cooperatives linked to supporters of the ruling party. According to Rufyiri, each of the Sangwe cooperatives — established across Burundi’s 2,911 hills — reportedly received an initial allocation of 10 million Burundian francs from the national treasury.
Rufyiri argued that while political parties are free to organize and support their members, they should not use public funds to finance partisan activities.
“Political parties have the right to organize and supervise their supporters, but they must find their own sources of funding and not use state coffers. Otherwise, it amounts to theft sanctioned by the state,” he said.
OLUCOME estimates that more than 58 billion Burundian francs have been disbursed to the cooperatives since 2019. The organization questioned the criteria used by the government to allocate such large sums.
“Why mix public affairs with party interests?” Rufyiri asked.
He also claimed that the alleged misuse of funds has contributed to the failure of major state-led development projects, citing what he described as a lack of proper planning and oversight.
The watchdog further criticized the involvement of senior public officials in supervising the cooperatives, despite the existence of the National Agency for the Promotion and Regulation of Cooperative Societies (ANACOP), which is legally mandated to oversee them.
“How can the Speaker of the National Assembly supervise cooperative activities when ANACOP already exists for that purpose and should be receiving the necessary budget for technical oversight?” Rufyiri said.
He also questioned how billions of francs could allegedly disappear without accountability.
OLUCOME is now demanding that both the government and the ruling CNDD-FDD publicly withdraw from the management of the Sangwe cooperatives and allow ANACOP to regulate them independently under the authority of the Interior Ministry.
“The government and the ruling party should issue a statement announcing that they are withdrawing from the management of the Sangwe cooperatives. Otherwise, we will file a complaint against them,” he warned.
The organization also called for all funds allocated to the cooperatives to be returned to the state treasury. Rufyiri said failure to do so would suggest that the authorities intentionally handed over public funds without accountability.
OLUCOME is not the only organization raising concerns. Local civil society group PARCEM and the opposition party FRODEBU have also criticized the alleged political use of the Sangwe cooperatives.
Neither the Burundian government nor the ruling party has officially responded to OLUCOME’s allegations.
The accusations come shortly after ANACOP announced earlier this month that it was restructuring leadership bodies within the Sangwe cooperatives nationwide as part of efforts to revitalize the program
