BUJUMBURA, March 26th (ABP) – The various religious denominations working on Burundian territory have a great contribution to make to ensure that the climate remains healthy and serene during that electoral period, according to Prof. Denis Banshimiyubusa, Doctor of Political Science and specialist in political parties and electoral processes.
In an interview with ABP on Friday 21 March 2025, he said that religious denominations are very close to the population, and their followers are recruited from among the citizens.
He added, moreover, that the teachings they give and the advice they provide in terms of peaceful cohabitation, respect for the rights of others, environmental protection, peace and security, women’s rights, etc., can help to create and foster a peaceful climate among the population during that election period.
Political scientist Banshimiyubusa also points out that religious denominations have both the right and the duty to teach about politics, politics in the broadest sense is omnipresent in everything that affects life in society, in communities,” he explains.
Drawing on the views of the American Baptist pastor Martin Luther King, political scientist Banshimiyubusa explained that religion is concerned with both heaven and earth, so “any religion that professes to be concerned with the souls of men without addressing the slums in which they are condemned, the economic conditions that strangle them and the social conditions that mutilate them is a religion as sterile as it is dust”.
He appealed to the leaders of religious denominations to teach peaceful cohabitation; respect for human rights; mobilisation for the elections by following everything to do with politics, in particular by scrutinising the speeches of politicians; the safeguarding of peace and security, and to remain calm in order to respond en masse to the next electoral processes on the horizon.
Prof Banshimiyubusa also pointed out that most of the major religious denominations, notably the Catholic, Anglican, Methodist and Pentecostal churches, have leaders of a certain age and wisdom.
He advised the faithful to listen, respect and follow attentively the good preaching given to them by those leaders, especially those concerning peaceful cohabitation in their differences, whether ethnic, political or regional.