By CHRISTOPHER KAYUMBA

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Last week, the government of Burundi decided to ban the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) and Voice of America (VOA) from broadcasting on its territory for six months.

Besides French and English, the two foreign radios broadcast in Kirundi and Kinyarwanda on FM frequencies in the country and were banished for what authorities termed “falling short of laws governing the press” and “breaching professional ethics.”

In particular, BBC was banned for hosting a Burundian whose views were “inappropriate, exaggerated and damaging the reputation of the head of state” while VOA was reprimanded for “partnering” with banned websites.

So, what does the ban tell us about governance in Burundi and President Pierre Nkurunziza’s game plan as the country prepares to vote in a referendum that will decided on an extension of presidential term on May 17?

Does the ban illustrate an administration keen on enforcing media laws and ethics or does it point to suppression of media freedom and the people’s right to access to information?

For the uninitiated, there could be reasons to give the regime the benefit of the doubt and say that President Nkurunziza is only trying to enforce rule of law and curb biases of foreign media.

Repressive trajectory

On close scrutiny, however, unless one is from planet Mars, cumulative evidence since violence broke out in Burundi in protests against President Nkurunziza’s push for another term in office in April 2015 points to a decidedly repressive trajectory.

For anyone, who has been following happenings in Burundi, the ban is neither surprising nor unexpected. Nor will the outcome surprise! This is because of the following:

First, since the outbreak of protests against the third term in April 2015 and subsequent attempted coup in May 2015, President Nkurunziza’s strategy has been to dismantle all traditional centers of power, including the media, civil society and opposition parties

Consequently, today, all independent media outlets have been decimated, over 100 journalists are in exile; political opposition parties that dont sing President Nkurunziza’s praises is in exile; critical civil society has been banned or in exile and over 1,200 Burundians have been killed.

As a result, by April 26 this year, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) reported that 43,0478 Burundians were in exile.

Culmination

In addition, many Burundians are in jail as International Criminal Court investigates reported extra-judicial killings.

In short, banning BBC and VOA is a culmination! The deed fits a pattern and approach the country’s leaders have taken since protests of April 2015 against President Nkurunziza’s third term and subsequent crackdown on dissent or independent voices.

Stated thus, what this latest deed tell us is threefold:

First, as Burundians prepare to vote in a referendum that will decide whether or not President Nkurunziza will enjoy an extended term, authorities don’t want the remaining independent voices like the BBC or VOA to either tell the world about what’s happening in the country or inform Burundians the truth of what’s happening or the choices available to them.

Remember, the referendum is asking Burundians to change years for a presidential term from the current five years to seven while keeping the two presidential term limits.

Since the changes say nothing about the past or President Nkurunziza, if accepted President Nkurunziza will be eligible to run for two more terms!

Staying on

That means that he could stay in office until 2034! The next elections are in 2020.

As a keen follower of Burundian political affairs, I can bet that, holding everything constant, President Nkurunziza’s desired constitutional change won’t get less than 80 per cent endorsement especially that his appointees will count the vote!

Second, as many informed commentators feared after the outbreak of political violence in 2015, the ban of BBC and VOA confirm that not only have hardliners in the ruling CNDD-FDD party taken charge, but are also willing and prepared to play hardball even with non-Burundians they perceive to be against their wishes!

That tells us that unless something unorthodox happens or the East African Community wakes up to arrest the situation, Burundi’s conflict will be with us for a long time!

Christopher Kayumba, PhD. Senior Lecturer, School of Journalism and Communication, UR; Lead consultant, MGC Consult International Ltd. E-mail: [email protected]; twitter account: @Ckayumba Website:www.mgcconsult.com