The fuel shortage that has lasted almost 47 months is a major problem for Burundians. Civil servants and private sector employees who have to travel from the commercial capital Bujumbura to the different provinces of the country are absent from duty due to a lack of buses.

INFO SOS Médias Burundi

Some civil servants who spoke to SOS Médias Burundi say that « we are in permanent conflict with our bosses following repeated delays ».

The majority of civil servants and private sector employees that our reporters met used to go to the commercial city of Bujumbura where their families are based every weekend. « Now we are forced to go there at most twice a month ».

« We are sometimes forced to abandon our families so as not to waste everything on return tickets, usually for taxis because buses are rare, if not impossible to find, » laments a teacher from Muyinga in northeast Burundi. The latter paid 33 thousand Burundi francs for the return ticket but currently, he has to pay more than 100 thousand Burundi francs « if I am lucky enough to have a bus in a public transport agency ».

Bankrupt agencies

Passengers wait for a bus at the Rumonge parking lot (SOS Médias Burundi)

Managers of public transport agencies speak of a situation that is deteriorating.

« We are here to give hope to our customers otherwise we have almost closed the doors », said the boss of an agency doing transport between the commercial capital, the center and the northeast of the country.

« I have already sold half of my vehicles that transported people to the interior of the country. Others, I rented them here in the city just to have the daily ration, » he insists.

The bosses of the agencies indicate that it is practically impossible to work in the current conditions where in addition to the lack of fuel, the official price of the ticket does not take into account the reality of the market.

« If we make arrangements to get fuel on the black market, a 20-liter can costs 260,000 francs while the same quantity can be obtained at less than 83 thousand on the official price. You understand then that it is impossible to exist in such conditions, » laments another manager of a travel agency.

High cost of living worsens the situation

Passengers in a parking lot where there is only one bus in service in the center of Bubanza, western Burundi, September 15, 2024 (SOS Médias Burundi)

Public and private sector employees say they are tired.

They can no longer make ends meet because their salaries are insignificant following the depreciation of the Burundian currency, they lament.

« It’s difficult to make ends meet. We operate on bank overdrafts from January to December, » laments an employee of a local NGO.

« To pay the rent and school fees for my children, it requires a lot of gymnastics, » he continues with desolation.

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Exhausted and desperate passengers in a parking lot in the town center of Kirundo, September 2024 (SOS Médias Burundi)