New DRC government: such a long wait!

the page is turned. This Monday, April 12, the President of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Félix Tshisekedi, appointed a government fully committed to his cause. “Female representativeness: 27%. Average age: 47 years old. New figure: 80%. The priorities: security, health, education, justice, agriculture, fishing and breeding, economy, electoral process, infrastructure, digital ”, summed up on Twitter the new Prime Minister appointed on February 15, Jean-Michel Sama Lukonde.

Indeed, it is a little less bloated, a little more feminine, younger. Presented after weeks of negotiations and haggling, the new executive of the “Sacred Union of the Nation” has 56 members including 14 women, according to the presidential ordinance read on state television (RTNC) by Félix Tshisekedi’s spokesperson, Kasongo Mwema. The outgoing team lined up 66 members. This new government definitely turns Act I of the Tshisekedi five-year term started the day after his election as head of the country in January 2019 and marked by the failure of the coalition with Joseph Kabila.

Since the launch of their political offensive on December 6 against his ex-ally, President Tshisekedi and his supporters have finally succeeded, by dint of debauchery, in overthrowing the majority of ex-President Joseph Kabila in both chambers.

A more favorable job sharing for Tshisekedi

This new government must now face Herculean challenges, commensurate with the largest country in sub-Saharan Africa, and one of the most unstable too: daily massacres of civilians in the East, fight against corruption, derisory tax revenues for immense needs for the moment largely assumed by the “partners” and “donors” of the DRC… Relatives of the former opponents Moïse Katumbi and Jean-Pierre Bemba occupy strategic positions.

This is the case of Eve Bazaïba, secretary general of Mr. Bemba’s Movement for the Liberation of Congo (MLC), who is appointed Minister of the Environment with the rank of Deputy Prime Minister. During the next summits against global warming, Ms. Bazaiba will be responsible for monetizing the role of the DRC, which is home to a good half of the Congo Basin forest.

It is also a close friend of Jean-Pierre Bemba member of the MLC who takes over the Ministry of Health, Jean-Jacques Mbungani. An important position in a country crossed by multiple epidemics: Covid-19, tuberculosis, malaria, etc. Christophe Lutundula, a supporter of Moïse Katumbi, has been appointed to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Christian Mwando, another lieutenant of the former governor of Katanga, took over the planning ministry.

On another level, the president tightens his grip on the security apparatus: the Minister of Defense is a retired medical general, Gilbert Kabanda, close to the president, and that of the Interior is Daniel Aselo Okito, secretary general deputy of the Union for Democracy and Social Progress (UDPS), the presidential party. The ministries of finance and education are also entrusted to the supporters of the head of state. The party of Vital Kamerhe, former chief of staff of the Head of State sentenced to 20 years in prison in a corruption case, retains the important Ministry of the Budget and that of Land Affairs.

Defectors from “Kabilie” – the name given to relatives of ex-president Joseph Kabila – are rewarded. Their leader Jean-Pierre Lihau is appointed Minister of the Civil Service with the rank of Deputy Prime Minister.

Huge challenges

Supported by the Americans and the European Union, Felix Tshisekedi, 57, now has a free hand to implement his program: fight against corruption and misery that affects two thirds of the population, and bring peace to the east of the country, bloodied by the violence of armed groups. The DRC has been destabilized in its eastern part for nearly three decades. Around a hundred armed groups are active there, including the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), a Muslim armed group of Ugandan origin, which has taken root in the Beni region and is now particularly deadly.

“This absence of government is blocking and destroying the country, which is in a crisis situation, especially security,” protested Georges Kapiamba of the Association for Access to Justice (ACAJ). Looking at the speed at which Félix Tshisekedi overthrew the old majority, no Congolese could imagine that the government of the current Prime Minister, Jean-Michel Sama Lukonde, would take so long to come out. But that was without taking into account certain constraints of Congolese policy, in particular transhumance.

For ACAJ, “the delay in forming the Sama Lukonde government is essentially due to the carelessness, recklessness, irresponsibility and gluttony of most of the politicians who have joined the Sacred Union of the Nation. They fight tooth and nail, either to preserve their presence in the government, or to migrate from parliament to the government, or finally to obtain substantial ministerial portfolios that would allow them to turn them into cash machines or backyards of their families. political parties and / or families, ”said Georges Kapiamba at a press conference. And another civil society actor to drive home the point: “The truth is that the people who ran to the Sacred Union do not think of the Congo, but of themselves first. This is what they do not want to tell us, we know it and we are watching you, ”said Jean-Claude Katende.

Billions lost

In any case, the time taken to appoint this government has had a strong impact on the populations. At first glance, the Observatory of Public Expenditure (ODEP) has, in a report published at the end of March, alerted to the problem posed by the assumption of responsibility by the Public Treasury of two Prime Ministers at a time when the country has not ways. “Nearly 4.5 million dollars were spent in two months, that is to say from January and February 2021 for the two prime ministers – including Sylvestre Ilunga dismissed by the assembly and who assumes current affairs pending the investiture of his successor , Sama Lukonde, by the facing. Add the month of March because of a monthly payment of 2.5 million dollars, the amount of 7 million dollars will be reached, a payment for nothing, ”said this organization in charge of controlling public finances.

In addition to these unnecessary expenses caused by the absence of the government, one can raise the soaring prices of basic foodstuffs in the markets, the movements of the strikes announced in the sector of education and diplomacy, because almost all Congolese chancelleries around the world are in arrears. The social situation was not spared either. Product prices have doubled or even tripled in the market. “Felix Tshisekedi is very bad, we regret having made Joseph Kabila leave. We realize that Kabila was still in good faith. In 2018 with 500 Congolese francs (at least $ 2.5), we could feed the family well and today, that does not represent anything. And surprisingly, our husbands are still unemployed. Where is this son of Tshisekedi taking us? Where did the slogan “People First” that his father boasted of? “, Asks angrily Belbiche Bossa, 37, a housewife met not far from the Freedom market, in eastern Kinshasa. The same goes for this close friend of Moise Katumbi, journalist Lwariba: “I repeat, the social situation is untenable in the DRC. The people are suffering, everything gallops and no one can regulate, the more the years go on, the more the prices get older in this country. ”