Set up in January, the patriotic support fund has enabled Burkina Faso to collect 7.8 billion FCFA. It should make it possible to finance the equipment, salaries and training of volunteers for the defense of the homeland via taxes on certain goods and voluntary contributions from Burkinabè. But this amount is still far from sufficient.
Of nearly 8 billion FCFA raised, more than three quarters are the result of levies made by Brakina/Sodibo, the country’s leading brewery. Then come in second place the taxes on imported products and cigarettes, according to a first progress report made during the first session of the Orientation Council of this fund.
Voluntary contributions put in place after the abandonment of a compulsory levy on wages amount to 369 million FCFA, or nearly 5% of the total mobilized.
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The FSP management committee notes “ good national membership “. On the antenna of the RTB, public television, the Minister of the Economy, Aboubacar Nacanabo nevertheless deplored, Monday evening, that “ Burkinabè companies did not participate enough to the war effort “.
“ These 7 billion are a drop of water compared to the needs “, according to a former member of the defense and security forces who believes that a VDP costs at least 60,000 FCFA per month. So how are the 50,000 VDP recruited last November equipped? ” It’s not very clear, notes an observer, they are often staffed in waves and according to missions. »
When it was created in January, the FSP set itself the goal of raising 100 billion CFA francs over one year.