Parliament votes to give Burundi president golden parachute

Burundi President Pierre Nkurunziza is expected to receive a golden parachute as he prepares to exit power, multiple news outlets have reported.

The hefty exit package was agreed after Parliament met to vote more than $530,000 to the President.

Pierre Nkurunziza has announced he would not seek re-election in May 2020.

The huge ex-gratia includes “a luxury villa built with public funds in the location of his choice within five years” the monitor.co.ug has reported.

Parliament also voted to give the President and former rebel leader, a lifetime salary.

The BBC also reported the MPs have recommended that the country’s second democratically-elected president should be given the title “Supreme Leader” and “Champion of Patriotism.”

The legislation obtained 98 votes in support, with two dissenting.

Quoting a diplomat, the AFP reported that “the benefits that will be given to a president at the end of his mandate are exorbitant if one takes into account the crisis in the country, but it is a positive measure as it seems to indicate very clearly that Nkurunziza will in fact not run for the presidency.”

Mr Nkurunziza was elected in 2005 following a long drawn civil war from 1993 to 2005 that killed more than 300,000 people.

But when Nkurunziza sought a third term in 2015, the country was plunged into another crisis.

Burundi’s president survived the crisis and stayed in power for a third term.

With four months to another general election, Nkurunziza has surprised many after declining to go for another term despite a 2018 constitution allowing him to do so.