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Burundi parly approves new VP
08/09/2006 13:24 - (SA)
Bujumbura - Burundi parliamentarians have approved a new second vice-president to replace the previous holder who resigned after accusing the government of graft, said officials, amid complaints of irregularities.
They said that the parliament voted late on Thursday to accept President Pierre Nkurunziza's nomination of Marine Barampama to succeed Alice Nzomukunda in the post from which she stepped down this week.
But, the approval of Barampama, a member of Nkurunziza's Forces for the Defence of Democracy Party known to be close the party chief who Nzomukunda accused of corruption, was marred by controversy.
MPs from several political parties, including members of the ruling coalition, boycotted the session and later complained that the vote was illegitimate because there had been no quorum.
People in power 'violated law'
Vestine Mbundagu, deputy chief of the FRODEBU opposition party, which alleged the vote was done secretly to hide the absence of a quorum, said: "All the MPs present at the meeting approved the proposed candidacy."
Catherine Mabobori, a spokesperson for the UPRNOA party, which also boycotted the balloting, said: "At the time of the vote, there were only 64 MPs in the room and the official quorum is 78.
"Those in power therefore decided to go behind closed doors, violate the law and declare Barampama elected."
Officials said that 43 MPs who had called for a debate over the circumstances of Nzomukunda's resignation boycotted the vote.
Govt became 'totally incapacitated'
Nzomukunda quit the job on Tuesday accusing the year-old, power-sharing government of failing to rein in corruption that was threatening the recovery of the war-ravaged central African nation.
At the time, she said the year-old government had become "totally incapacitated" by graft and plagued by human rights abuses.
Nzomukunda had been particularly critical of its handling of an alleged and as-yet vaguely defined coup plot that had resulted in a crackdown on several prominent political figures accused of plotting a coup.
Nkurunziza's government had come under mounting criticism at home and abroad over its actions in dealing with the vague conspiracy as well human rights and anti-corruption record.
It came to power last year under the auspices of a 2000 peace process aimed at ending Burundi's 13-year ethnically driven civil war that had claimed the lives of some 300 000 people.
Thursday's disputed vote in parliament came just hours after the government signed a ceasefire accord with the country's last active rebel group, giving a boost to peace talks.
- AFP
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