MUKAZA, Jan 5th (ABP) – The President of the Republic of Burundi, Evariste Ndayishimiye sent, on Wednesday, December 31, 2025, a message to the nation during which he reviewed the achievements made in the past year 2025 in different sectors of national life, and announced that the year 2026 is baptized, “Year of Patriotism. »
In this message marking the end of the year 2025 and the beginning of the year 2026, President Ndayishimiye first offered all Burundians and the Burundian diaspora the best wishes for the New Year 2026: a year of good health, unity, peace, work, better farming production, and finally, a year of milk and honey.
The Burundian number one leader commended the achievements that were made throughout the past year, which was baptized, “Year of the Hard Worker,” hoping for added value throughout the year 2026 in terms of transformational leadership, the economy and well-being.
According to President Ndayishimiye, peace takes precedence over everything. He thus expressed his gratitude to the defense and security forces as well as all citizens for their vigilance throughout 2025, encouraging them not to let down their guard so as not to let the enemy exploit the slightest weakness.
“Heart security goes hand in hand with food security. This is why we have constantly led the fight against poverty, so that every mouth has something to eat and every pocket has money,” recalled the President of the Republic. “When we look at our surroundings, we see that the population is clean, dresses decently and is starting to build decent houses; an eloquent sign testifying that production is increasing further,” he said with joy, before congratulating all those who have given their all in the work aimed at transforming Burundi into a country of milk and honey.
As part of the consolidation of good governance and democracy as well as the implementation of the decentralization process, President Ndayishimiye positively appreciated the organization of the 2025 elections, which ended in a climate of understanding in all the provinces of the country. To this end, he congratulated all Burundians, in particular the members of the different political parties, for their spirit of mutual respect during the competition, without anyone underestimating the other. According to him, the behaviour displayed during the period of the 2025 elections is a testament to the political maturity of Burundians.
Concerning the new administrative division, the Head of State noted that the decentralized administration will facilitate the daily life of the population by bringing administrative services closer to them. The new administrative organization will allow services that were only working in the headquarters and/or the capital to extend their actions in the country, for the benefit of development for all, he added, stressing that this will also make it possible to know the person responsible for justice from the village level to the national level.
The Burundian number one leader also noted that the year 2025 constitutes a benchmark in the journey towards a prosperous Burundi. He indicated that he had inspected everything that Burundi needs to develop, stressing that the key to achieving this lies in the diligent work of all Burundian citizens, while exploiting the natural heritage with which God has endowed Burundi, in order to have what to export, and to properly collect taxes, without forgetting to ensure the good management of public funds.
At a time when Burundi has adopted the Vision Burundi, an emerging country by 2040 and developed in 2060, President Ndayishimiye said, it is necessary for everyone to tackle innovative development work with a vision, so that at the end of the year one can evaluate themselves. According to him, a leader who does not advance his sector of activity will have shown his incapacity, which reveals that they are not able to continue working in that sector.
The Head of State expressed his strong wish: “We are aiming for development based on the improvement of living conditions in each household: good health, decent housing and clothing, a balanced diet, drinking clean water, enjoying freedom, and allowing children to attend school according to their choice and their dreams or aspirations. »
And he added: “These elements constitute concrete indicators of sustainable development. But this development does not fall from the sky; it is built through hard work. Wherever we observe progress, it is not due to a particular gift, but to the fruit of rigorous work. Just as a family cannot prosper without having something to sell, a country cannot develop if it does not have something to export. »
Thus, the President of the Republic expressed his wish to see Burundians begin to transform the natural heritage that God gave to the country: arable land, drinking water and minerals, the good climate as well as our intelligence. “We want all Burundians to produce in abundance, for everyone to meet all their needs, and to have a surplus intended for export,” he added, specifying that for this year, they do not want to see Burundians who do not work, and that even for those who do not have arable land to exploit, especially the graduate, the country will show them where to extract minerals to earn money.
He also lauded the significant progress recorded in the agro-pastoral sector. The agricultural sector is no longer underestimated: it is now considered an industry that does not go bankrupt, frequented by the majority of the population, the educated and the uneducated. According to him, this massive influx of the population to this sector has resulted in the insufficiency of fertilizers, reassuring that the government’s current concern is to seek fertilizers in sufficient quantities and selected seeds, without forgetting the environmental protection.
Given that development goes hand in hand with good neighbourliness and the good relations that the country builds with other countries, President Ndayishimiye indicated that the Burundi’s main concerned was to maintain these relations with other countries and UN organizations.
He also deplored that Rwanda, a member country of the East African Community (EAC), is not concerned with the restoration of peace in the sub-region, while other countries are doing everything for good cohabitation with border countries.
He pointed out that they are closely monitoring the situation prevailing in the east of the DRC, especially since the country which is destabilizing peace in the DRC is not in good relations with Burundi and harbours the country’s enemies.
He ended his message by reassuring all Burundians that the future is bright, urging them to be patient and work in synergy to achieve sustainable development.