On the day of the celebration of the 61st anniversary of independence, the president decorated the people who had to surpass their personal interests for the benefit of the general interest. Among these, there was Isaïe Mbonihankuye, director of the Secondary School of Administrative Techniques (ESTA) who fought tooth and nail to recover the school grounds which were granted by the private sector. A fight that cost him his life
Isaïe Mbonihankuye, director of the Secondary School of Administrative Techniques (ESTA): “When the work you have done makes you proud, you have peace of mind. And this peace is priceless”. (Photo: Akezanet)
In 1953, the primary athenaeum was created and then abolished in 2003 so that its premises could now house the ESTA from 2004. The latter occupied at the time the premises which later housed the Ecole Normale Supérieure (ENS ) but which today houses the Lycée Vugizo. This is where Isaïe Mbonihankuye, director of ESTA since 1997, falls into the business of land that has been removed from the Primary Athenaeum to be granted to private individuals. The Director of ESTA indicates that at that time, it was said that the purpose of the abolition of the Primary Athenaeum was to silence the parents of the children who had already started a lawsuit to recover these lands. This is where Isaïe Mbonihankuye undertakes to take over from the parents’ committee and begin to recover all the land whose first spoliations date from the 1970s and the last from 2016, which is between 1 to 1.5 ha, or nearly half of the entire school area.
The director’s ordeal begins
As soon as he started the fight to recover the land now belonging to ESTA, the problems began for him since those who had allocated these lands to the private sector were either a former minister or a senior state executive, people who were more powerful than him. He says: “The latter, knowing that they had granted these lands irregularly, tried to corrupt him, but without success. Afterwards, they tried to blackmail me because they wanted to get me out of this case. I was fired from my job, but later reinstated after explaining myself”
Not just that. Having tried everything to have him arrested, but in vain, the director says that he knew that a plan to eliminate him was concocted but that God rescued him. “However, I felt that no matter what I incurred, I should go through with it and accomplish the mission that the country had entrusted to me to preserve its property,” he testified.
“I was not flattered by the money. »
Mbonihankuye says those who grabbed the school property offered him a large sum of money so he could drop the case. “I knew whoever owned these lands could give me a large sum of money and I could rub my hands, but I was not going to have peace in my heart. My mind would have always accused me of high treason”.
But, why is this manager going to risk his life to recover assets that he will not directly benefit from. Mbonihankuye explains that the education that received her allowed her to acquire a certain value: to put dignity before material goods. “There are people who make fun of me for not even owning a car when I am the director of a school that is doing well financially”, he confides before launching: “My dignity has no no value. It cannot be converted into terms of wealth”. For him, when you are proud of a job you have done, that is enough to have peace of mind. “And this peace is priceless,” he stresses.
Antivalues now take precedence over values.
Mbonihankuye regrets the contempt reserved for the values which were the pillars of the society of our ancestors. “Anti-values are now seen as values,” he observes before adding: “Fighting for the general interest is seen as meaningless. Today, people who have the courage to accumulate wealth, regardless of the means used, are considered valiant,” he laments.
Today, ownership of ESTA has been fully recovered after a long legal battle. The director estimates that it will soon be closed. “It is a source of pride, but above all a victory for me, for those who helped me in this fight, but above all a good example for all Burundians who no longer believed in the existence of people who defend the general interest” , he said proudly.
