Born into an educated family from the Hutu ethnic group, Cimpaye was considered one of Burundi's leading intellectuals in the late colonial period.
Cimpaye briefly held the position of prime minister in 1961 before UPRONA was decisively returned in the country's first elections ahead of Burundi's independence in July 1962.
Jean-Paul Harroy, Resident-General of Ruanda-Urundi, created the offices of national commissioners under his supervision on 21 July and named Burundians to the posts to give them a chance to practise self-government.
[7] The UPP fractured into three tendencies, and Cimpaye and Emmanuel Nigane led one of these groups in trying to reach an understanding with UPRONA.
[10] In response to UN General Assembly resolution 1605, on 6 July the government was modified and enlarged to grant more representation to different political parties.
UPRONA won the country's first elections decisively that month and Rwagasore replaced Cimpaye as prime minister.
Between October 1962 and November 1963 attended training seminars at the Institut Belge d'Information et de Documentation in Brussels and at the Centre universitaire d'enseignement du journalisme of the University of Strasbourg designed for African journalists.
'The Man From My Hill', or 'District') which followed the struggles of a protagonist named Benedikto living in a rural part of Burundi during the colonial era in the 1930s or 1940s.