INSPIRING STANDPOINTS BY INNOCENT MWUMVIKANO

Tournons La Page Burundi is a citizens' movement based on a simple yet demanding principle: democracy must not be a one-off event; it must be a daily practice. In practical terms, this means restoring citizens' belief that they have a voice, and that this voice matters.

I coordinate TLP Burundi's activities, help shape advocacy strategies and work with civil society organisations. But my role is often that of a bridge-builder: between rights and citizens, between legislation and reality, and between young people who want to take action and the forums where their voices can be heard.

I do not believe in instant change. I believe in raising awareness. Change often begins with a conversation, a training session, or a question asked at just the right moment. We focus on civic education, dialogue and peaceful mobilisation.

« The law alone does not change a society. It is the citizens who, by understanding their rights, bring it to life. »

It wasn't a single incident, but a series of experiences that can't be forgotten. In the late 1980s, a neighbour who held a high rank in the army tried to seize our land. Justice prevailed, thanks to my father's courage in standing up to this man for over 15 years. In Burundi, I was confronted from a very early age with arbitrary detentions and violations of fundamental rights. I saw people vanish from the justice system, sometimes never to be seen again. As a lawyer, this tension between what the law says and what people actually experience made it impossible for me to remain a bystander.

Because political freedom is what enables a society to engage in self-reflection without fear. Without it, decisions are imposed from above. With it, they are shaped collectively. It allows us to challenge, to propose, to correct, and to dream. A society that loses it always ends up losing far more.

The democracy activist of tomorrow will not have just one face. It might be a student organising debates, a journalist who still asks the right questions, a lawyer who refuses to trivialise injustice, or a young person who chooses to inform rather than divide. Someone who simply refuses to be indifferent. And when I look at African youth today, I see a generation that has not given up on striving for a better future.