DRCONGO: IT'S BEEN ALMOST FOUR MONTHS SINCE GOVERNMENT STOPPED ISSUING PASSPORTS AND CONGOLESE ARE NOW GETTING FRUSTRATED

The government of the Democratic Republic of Congo has been unable to issue its citizens with new passports, almost four months after it ended its contract with controversial Belgium company Semlex.

 And now with the lifting of some travel restrictions, frustration is growing among Congolese travellers who are unable to access this necessary document.

For the Minister of Foreign Affairs Marie Tumba Nzeza, the file concerning the issuing of passports was held up at the Ministry of Budget. The Minister has since called on her fellow compatriots to be patient as she has sent a communication to her colleague to expedite the process.  

According to Tumba  Nzeza, her department had already completed the necessary work in terms of how it will go about producing and issuing the passports. The file was then sent to the Ministry of Budget to be granted the necessary support, once this was done a communication will   be issued to the public, she said. 

The  government of Congo had refused to renew its contract with Semlex, which was  awarded the right to produce Congolese passports, after an earlier investigation tainted the company as being corrupt.

The investigation  detailed how Semlex was overcharging for the cost of each passport, to the benefit of the company and members of Congo's political elite. 

DRCONGO: PRESIDENT TSHISEKEDI APPEALS FOR INTERNATIONAL ASSISTANCE IN SANCTIONING THOSE FUELING THE CONFLICT IN THE EASTERN REGION

Delivering his speech at the 75th United Nations General Assembly Meeting, via a video link, the Congolese President told members that his country cannot eradicate the presence of arm groups if networks offering them support are not dismantled. According to reports from various Non-governmental organisations, multinational companies have been funding rebel groups in Congo by purchasing mineral resources extracted from mines controlled by the rebels; these minerals are transported to neighbouring countries, mainly Rwanda and Uganda, where they are then distributed to the global market.

 

It's for this reason President Felix Tshisekedi is appealing to the international community to help his country by identifying companies involved in conflict minerals and apply effective sanctions. 

Tshisekedi is under heavy domestic pressure as the seems to be no end in the brutal killing taking place in the country's east. The latest  incident took place just last Sunday 20 September 2020, where 12 people were massacred in the village of Mbau , in North Kivu Province. 

After coming to power President Felix Tshisekedi made a commitment to end the conflict in the east before his term expires. 

DRCONGO: OPPOSITION LEADER FAYULU CONTINUES TO MAKE CLAIMS OF FORMER PRESIDENT KABILA BEING IN CHARGE.

According to Martin Fayulu, the December 2018 General Elections never brought about change in the country's leadership as the Congolese people were made to believe; instead current President Felix Tshisekedi illegally grabbed power from the mass population, and as a result of that Joseph Kabila continues to rule.

Many independent observers, including the Congo's powerful Catholic Church, have always held the view that Martin Fayulu won the Elections of 2018, and that Joseph Kabila struck a deal with Felix Tshisekedi for the latter to become the Head of State.

The 63 year old opposition leader is now calling on all stakeholders to come together and take a brave stance in favour of political reforms. Fayulu added that the country cannot wait until the next Presidential Elections in 2023 to anticipate change.

In an interview with online publication France Info Afrique , Martin Fayulu also delved into the catastrophic and tragic situation unravelling in the eastern parts of the country.

He questioned why the killings and massacre of innocent civilians have gone on for decades. According to Fayulu more than 140 arm groups are operating in eastern Congo and despite the deployment of around 17000 United Nations (UN) force, the violence just doesn't seem to be coming to an end. In addition to that, the main perpetrators of the violence are yet to be held accountable, even with the conclusion of the UN mapping report, which named these main perpetrators. For Fayulu, the United Nations and the international community must tell the truth about what's really going on and who is benefiting from the ongoing conflict. 

DRCONGO: FINANCIAL DIRECTOR FOR VODACOM CONGO RELEASED

The financial director for the Democratic Republic of Congo's most profitable cellular network Vodacom Congo, has been released from custody.

 

Oomar Chuto was set free on 18 September 2020, after spending four days in detention, at the Office of the State Prosecutor.

He was arrested by the judicial police on suspicious of forgery and falsification of documents. It's alleged that Oomar Chuto had been forging Vodacom's financial statements as to reduced the tax and revenues the company owes to the State.

Last year 2019, Vodacom Congo, which is 51% owned by parent company Vodacom South Africa, was embroiled in a legal battle after the Congolese Ministry of Telecommunication withdrew its 2G license, citing irregularities in the awarding process. According to Minister Emery Okundji, Vodacom Congo had to pay USD65 million instead of the USD16 million it paid in order to obtain such license.

An agreement was later struck between both parties.

DRCONGO: MORE THAN USD250M OF CIVIL SERVANTS SALARIES DISAPPEARED, SINCE THE INTRODUCTION OF ELECTRONIC PAYMENT SYSTEM

Interesting enough the electronic  payment system was introduced to end corruption and misappropriation of civil servants salaries, which was rampant when State employees were receiving their pay through sealed envelopes. 

But now  prosecutors in Kinshasa have launched an investigation to trace more than USD250 million of government money, lost under this banking system, put in place in 2011.

Its appears that the Congolese government had been loosing money through the creation of duplicate and fictitious accounts, where civil servants salaries will be swindled. 

The Congolese State recognises 1220 458 employees under its payroll, and would disburse a monthly sum of more than USD100 million for salaries settlements. According to the State Attorney though, around USD25 million of that amount is paid to only 50 individuals. The Attorney also revealed the existence of more than 170000 fictitious agents and duplicate accounts on government's civil servants database.

 Now it wants all banks that have been facilitating the payment transactions for State employees to handover all the financial records relating to such transaction.

 

The  State Prosecutor is also  investigating The Payroll Monitoring Committee PMC), an institution  of government charged with eradicating duplicate accounts and fictitious agents on the civil servant payroll system. Last year the head of PMC, Jean Louis Kayembe, was held in detention over a case involving the embezzlement of USD4,5 millon of treasury money. 

DRCONGO: FORMER PRESIDENT JOSEPH KABILA ATTENDS PARLIAMENTARY SESSION FOR THE FIRST TIME SINCE STEPPING DOWN

The People's Palace, which houses both the Senate and Parliamentary seatings, came to a standstill as former Congolese President Joseph Kabila made his way into the building, to attend  the opening of Parliament.

 Kabila was attending the session in his capacity as the  Senator for life. This marked a very significant step for the country's democracy as it rules out the possibility of Kabila returning in the near future to contest the Presidential Elections.

 

According to the Congolese Constitution, once the President finishes serving a second term , he/she will step down and automatically becomes a Senator for life .

In recent months there have been speculations that Kabila will make a come back and contest the 2023  elections, such speculations are said to be driven by campaigns from some members of his political party, who fear that their political influence and control is slowly drifting away.

Even though Joseph Kabila's coalition movement, The Common Front for Congo (FCC),  holds majority seats in Parliament, they are struggling to push through some of the contentious laws, obstructed by pressure from the  current President, Felix Tshisekedi. 

Earlier in the year some members of the FCC tried to introduce the law that would have weaken the power of the courts and magistrates, but Tshisekedi made it clear that he would not sign into law such bill.

Tshisekedi is also said to be gunning for FCC members, over allegations of corruption, which was committed when Joseph Kabila was in power. 

DRCONGO: BURUNDI SNUBS INVITATION FROM CONGOLESE LEADER TO PARTICIPATE IN A GREAT LAKES MINI-SUMMIT

In a responding letter from Burundi's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the government of that country said that due to an already scheduled calendar,  it was not possible for President Evariste Ndayishimiye to attend the mini-summit; which would have included the President of Rwanda and Uganda.

Instead they have proposed that a bilateral meeting, at a ministerial level, be held between the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)  and Burundi. Such meeting will discuss issues relating to security along the shared border; Burundi also wants to talk about economic interests and the management of the coronavirus pandemic at the border posts. 

The letter also praised the excellent and brotherly relations enjoyed by both countries, emphasising Burundi's commitment to maintain such relations.

The DRC President Felix Tshisekedi had sent a letter to President Paul Kagame of Rwanda, Uganda's Yoweri Museveni and Burundi's Evariste Ndayishimiye, to attend a mini-summit in the Congolese city of Goma, which was to be held between the 09th and 13th of September 2020. 

Relations among these countries have been patchy for decades and is believed to be one of the main causes of the instability and killings in the eastern parts of Congo. 

DRCONGO: LUMUMBA'S DAUGHTER WINS COURT BATTLE FOR THE RETURN OF HER FATHER'S BODY PART

A court in Belgium has ruled in favour of Juliana Lumumba, daughter of Congolese liberation icon Patrice Emery Lumumba, to have her father's remaining tooth be returned to the family.

For years Juliana Lumumba had been leading a campaign to have her father's remains be returned to the land of his ancestors, the Democratic Republic of Congo; she even wrote to the Belgium Monarch, King Philippe I, to facilitate such process.

It's believed that Lumumba's tooth was the only remain left of him after his body was  dismembered and dissolved in acid during an assassination  mission.

The tooth was removed from  Lumumba's body by a policeman who assisted in disposing his body. He than took it to Belgium where his family had kept it for more than half a century

Lumumba was assassinated in January 1961 by members  of America's Central Intelligence Agency, in collaboration with Belgium officials. In  2002 the government of Belgium officially issued an apology for its participation in the assasination

DRCONGO: DIRECTOR GENERAL FOR CIVIL AVIATION SUSPENDED, AFTER AUTHORISING GOOGLE BALLOON TO FLY IN DRC AIRSPACE

The Congolese Transport Ministry has confirmed the suspension of Civil Aviation Director General Jean Tshuimba Mpunga, after an investigation report discovered that he had signed an agreement with US based company Loon LLC , which is also part of Google's parent company, for  one of its invention to be tested in Congolese airspace. 

The high altitude balloon, also known as the Google Balloon, was allowed to float in the stratosphere leading to its engine crash landing in the Congolese town of Buta, Bas Uele Province.

 The Google Balloon was designed to offer internet access to people living in rural and remote parts of the world; it's said to provide one of the most cost effective WiFi connectivity.

 For the Ministry of Transport, due to security and scientific significance, the Civil Aviation Authority should have first gotten the approval of the central government before signing the deal with the US company. 

DRCONGO: ANOTHER ATTEMPT TO TRY AND SETTLE LAND DISPUTE BETWEEN FORMER PRESIDENT JOSEPH KABILA'S WIFE AND THE HABITANTS OF MBOBERO VILLAGE

Last week a delegation had arrived in the village of Mbobero, in the territory of Kabare South Kivu Province, to meet with the local population and find a way to bring to an end a 10 year land dispute, involving former first lady of the Democratic Republic of Congo Olive Lembe Kabila. 

Among the delegates was  Lembe's Chief of Staff Henri Kitenge, and the Administrator of Kabare , Thadee Midero.

The origin of the dispute dates back from 2010 when Mrs Kabila bought  200 hectares of land in the village, for farming purpose.

According to local civil society, the former first lady imposed her own terms and conditions, ordering villagers occupying the purchased land to vacate .

However there was a resistance from certain members of the village, some of whom had owned the land for more than 50 years.

In a film serie produced by journalists Gael Mpoyo and Franck Zongwe, together with human rights activists Jean-Chrisostome Kijana and Fidele Mutchungu, the film script gave an account of how Mrs Kabila used her status to forcefully remove those who had refused to give up their land. The film dubbed "Mbobero:Might Is Always Right" detailed how Olive Lembe was accompanied by security forces, including members of the Presidential Republican Guards, who went on to burn more than 300 houses after chasing away around 2000 of its occupants. 

The producers of the film were later subjected to threats, intimidations and arrests; a situation that was condemned by rights orgarnisation Human Rights Watch.   

But it seemed the violent confrontation never really settled the dispute, as in 2019, under the new leadership of President Felix Tshisekedi, the victims of the Mbobero destruction  made a public call for justice to be served and a return of their land. 

Mrs Olive Lembe Kabila then met with the representatives of the victims and agreed to return 8 hectares of the land to the villagers and give another 9 hectares to a Catholic church. The offer was strongly rejected by the representatives of the victims. Human activist and  civil society leader Jean-Chrisostome Kijana, who now represented the victims, argued that there was no way a 8 hectares land would accommodate families of more than 350 people. 

Under the latest negotiations, according to the Administrator of Kabare Thadee Midero, the former first lady has offered to pay $2000 dollars to each family that owned the disputed land. While some have taken up the offer and signed a Memorundum of Understanding to leave the area, others felt that the amount was little, and that they should be allowed to place their own price. Negotiations are continuing .

DRCONGO: CENTRAL BANK CALLS MYGOLDREV COMPANY A FRAUD AND ASK GOVERNMENT TO IMMEDIATELY STOP ITS OPERATION

The Central Bank of the Democratic Republic of Congo has red flagged investment company MYGOLDREV, labelling it a pyramid entity that risks scamming Congolese consumers of their hard earned money. The Bank added that MYGOLDREV's regulations are very weak and does not offer protection to its customers in an event that the company default on its financial obligations or stops operation. 

The Central Bank also believes that the  company is exposed to various risks including possibility of money laundering, financing of terrorist groups and cyber attack, resulting in theft of crypto-currencies.

MYGOLDREV has branded itself as a company that invests in gold; however its operation in the Democratic Republic of Congo allows members of the public to deposit their money in the company in return for profit. The deposit starts from as little as $10 going up to $100000, for VIP members. Members are also rewarded for convincing others to join.

It's for this reason the Central Bank has call its operation illegal, as it resembles all the signs of a pyramid scheme, which is not permitted in the country.

 

CONGOLESE PRESIDENT PROPOSES A MINI-SUMMIT WITH RWANDA, BURUNDI AND UGANDA

Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi has sent an invitation to Rwanda's Paul Kagame, the President of Burundi Evariste Ndayishimiye and Uganda's Yoweri Museveni, to attend a mini-summit to be held in the Congolese city of Goma.

 The summit aims to discuss issues relating to security, development, trade and health.

For President Tshisekedi this will be another opportunity in  search for solutions in  ending the tension among the neighbouring countries, which Congo is paying the heaviest price.

Relations between Rwanda and Burundi for example have remained strained ever since Kagame hinted that Bujumbura is offering support to rebel movements wishing to destabilise Rwanda. The rebel movements are said to be based and operating in the eastern parts of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Meanwhile Burundi will often blame deadly sporadic attacks on its army base on Rwandan soldiers, who sometimes launch these attacks from Congo.

Similar accusations have also damaged relations between Uganda and Rwanda, with the latter naming the government of President Yoweri Museveni as one of the sponsors of the rebel group led by former Rwandan Army General Kayumba Nyamwasa, which wants to overthrow the Kigali administration. Nyamwasa's forces are also active in the eastern parts of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

As these rebel movements and foreign forces set up their base in Congo, it has now been up to the Congolese army to disarm them and end their activities, an operation that has proven to be challenging  and has led to the deaths of thousands of Congolese people. 

DRCONGO: LAW ENFORCEMENT INVESTIGATING USD650 MILLION DEPOSITED IN SUB-ACCOUNTS PARALLEL TO THAT OF THE CENTRAL BANK

 

The Congolese judicial police have confirmed that they are probing a case in which the sum of USD650 million, belonging to the state, was found held in 52 global sub-accounts which ran parrelel to that of the country's Central Bank. The sub-accounts have since been blocked pending an investigation.

According to Congo's Finance Inspector General Jules Alingete, the country has been loosing billions of dollars worth of revenues as a result of state money being paid into sub-accounts, after it's first channeled through other transit accounts, instead of it being deposited directly into the account of the Central Bank. This type of payment clearing and  settlement system, said the Inspector General, contravenes the financial regulations. 

The statement by the Finance Inspector General comes at a time the Central Bank Governor Deogratias Mutombo, had to answer questions regarding the USD100 million paid by mineral company Mutanda Mining, as an advance tax on profit.

The payment was made in 2015 at the request of the Congolese government, which needed the money to prepare for the upcoming elections. 

Then Finance Minister Henri Yav Mulang, had signed an exemption document allowing the transaction for the funds skip certain financial regulations.

Based on the documents produced by Mutanda Mining, the amount was paid in two installments with a sum of USD20 million directly deposited into the account of the Central Bank, while USD80 million was paid  into the Bank of International Settlement, via UBC bank. 

But somehow the amount never made it to the coffers of the national treasury; and now during his interrogation, Deogratias Mutombo has admitted that the Central Bank never received any parts of the USD100 million.

Investigations are continuing as the administration of  President Felix Tshisekedi is determine to recover the money and hold officials accountable.

DRCONGO: YOUTH MOVEMENT TO GO AHEAD WITH MARCH DEMANDING THE EXPULSION OF RWANDAN AMBASSADOR

The Congolese Citizens Movement for Change (LUCHA) said it will hold its planned protests march on 04 September 2020, calling for  the expulsion of Rwandan Ambassador Vincent Karega from the Democratic Republic of Congo; this despite President Felix Tshisekedi having already held talks with the Ambassador after his controversial tweet.

In late August 2020, Mr Karega had challenged a social media message from Congolese blogger Benjamin Babunga, which remembered the August 24 1998 massacre in the Congolese territory of Kasika South Kivu. Babunga attributed the massacre to Rwandan soldiers who according to him killed more than 1100 innocent civilians and burned villages, while on a 60km journey  between Kilungutwe and Kasika.

The Rwandan Ambassador then disputed the narrative in his tweeter timeline, accusing the author of slander and mounting a propoganda, since he could not provide any evidence to back up his claims.

However the Ambassador's  tweet did not go down well with the Congolese political class, who in return accused him of denying what they dubbed the Congolese genocide.

Given the public outcry, Mr Vincent Karega met with President Felix Tshisekedi and later commended the good bilateral relations enjoyed by both Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Mr Karega also ended up deleting his tweet.

 But for some Congolese politicians and civil society movements, the outcome of the meeting between President Tshisekedi  and Karega was simply not enough, LUCHA even went further and accused the Congolese government of treating the Rwandan Ambassador with kids gloves and being indifferent to Karega's revisionist attitude on Congolese atrocities.

 It's a similar sentiment shared by opposition party leader Martin Fayulu who described the tweet by Vincent Karega as part of a systematic denial of the Congolese genocide. For Fayulu this was unacceptable and that any Congolese who is complicit to such denialism should be tried for treason

DRCONGO: FORMER PRIME MINISTER MATATA MPONYO APPROACHES THE INSPECTOR FOR FINANCE IN AN ATTEMPT TO CLEAR HIS NAME OVER ALLEGATIONS OF MASSIVE CORRUPTION

The former Prime Minister has written to the Finance Inspector General Jules Alingete expressing his full support and cooperation into the investigation on the collapse of the Bukanga Lonzo Agro-Industrial  development project.

The project was launched in 2014, with much fanfare, at the time Matata Mponyo was Congolese Prime Minister. It was expected that once the 80000 hectares farming project was completed it would have provided solution to the challenge of food security in the capital Kinshasa. 

But six years later since its launch this vision is yet to materialise. 

Matata Mponyo continued to claim his innocence insisting that he was not in charge of  managing the project and it was instead a South African company known as Africom Commodities. He further argued that when he was the head of  government, the state disbursed USD92 million to kick- start the agro-food  project in the Province of Kwango. Till today no one knows what happened to that amount, says Mponyo.

In response the South African company had placed the blame on the Congolese government, accusing it of failing to fulfill the financial obligation to complete the project, hence its stoppage in 2016. Africom Commodities has since taken the Congolese government to court over unpaid expense.

Meanwhile public pressure had continued to mount for those responsible for the project to be held accountable.

The matter was even brought to greater attention after the election of new President Felix Tshisekedi in December 2018, which ushered in a new administration.

In his 30th June speech to mark 60 years of the Democratic Republic of Congo Independence, Felix did promise to pursue those who were in charge of the Bukanga Lonzo project.

Just last week current Prime Minister Sylvester Ilunga Ilukamba visited the site of Bukanga Lonzo in an effort to revive the project, what he discovered was tractors with engines removed from it and  unused chemical fertilizers. In his cabinet report he painted a very sad picture, which had further cast a spotlight on Matata Mponyo, prompting him to approach the Inspector General for Finance.

DRCONGO: RADJA KULA, THE MAN WHO CREATED SOME OF GREATEST DANCE MOVES IN CONGOLESE MUSIC HAS DIED, FAILING TO CLAIM HIS DUES FROM SINGER KOFFI OLOMIDE

An extremely talented dancer and choreographer, Radja Kula had established his music band Station Japana. It was through this band that he went on to unleash his creative and introduced some of the most captivating dance moves that came to popularised Congolese music.

While Radja's dance invention were rocking in clubs and other entertainment venues, especially in the mid nineties when Congolese music  captured the heart of  global audience, the name Radja Kula was seldom heard of in the music circle.

 It happened that his work was being exported by his band members who would ditch him for  popular and more lucrative music groups. As these members left so too did they take with them some of the dance moves they had learned from Radja.

In an interview conducted to pay tribute to Radja Kula, one of his former dancers Nono Ba Diamant recalled how her performance of  Radja Kula's dance moves during a test session, secured her a spot in the country's most famous and lucrative band , Quartier Latin,  owned by singer and composer  Koffi Olomide.

 According to Nono, during the test performance she would echo lyrics sung by one of the other members from Raja Kula's Station Japan band, so much that Koffi was left impressed and ended up recruiting the band member, known as Sonomo.

The presence of Nono Ba Diamant and Sonomo in Quartier Latin went on to showcased and popularise many of Radja Kula's dance creations

According to Nono Ba Diamant, the success of Koffi's 1996 album V12 (which included the famous hit Andrada) and the album that followed after that  "Ultimatum"  ought to be credited to Rodja Kula, as majority of the dance moves and some lyrics in those albums were taken from him.

Rodja Kula later made this known after he blasted Koffi Olomide during a television interview. He claimed that the Ndombolo hit maker had promised him some kind of compensation after he had personally confronted him about producing and making money from his creative work. But even in his last hours on earth Koffi Olomide failed to fulfill such promise.

What had further angered Radja Kula about Koffi is that the singer had benefited the most from his talent yet could not offer him even a minimum, while other artists such as Werrason and JB Mpiana had reached out to Radja. There were also among the artists who had made great hits by  coping dance steps and lyrics from Station Japana.

Radja Kula died on the 19th of August 2020 in Nairobi Kenya, where he had recently joined his son Evala Mbuta, who also happens to  be an artist.

DRCONGO: GOVERNMENT ONLY GENERATED 26.6% OF FORCAST REVENUE, RECORDING A DEFICIT OF AROUND USD136 MILLION

Based on information from the country's Central Bank, the government of the Democratic Republic of Congo only managed to  mobilise 4575 billion fc (almost USD2.2 billion) of the 17225 billion fc (USD8.6 billion) it had planned, making up 26.6% of total revenue collected between January and August 2020.

Meanwhile  expenditure by government during that same period came to 4837 billion fc (around USD2.4 billion), resulting in a budget deficit of 272 billion fc (USD136 million). On the positive side though, the deficit had decreased when compared to the USD168 million previously recorded

The largest portion of expenditure ,USD1.4 billion, went to settling civil servants salaries, which accounted for more than 60% of expenditure.
Operating costs of government institutions also consumed a bigger sum, taking  USD255 million from the budget.

As far as borrowing is concern , government had used 28.1% (USD 113 million) of its credit facility between January and August 2020, whose annual credit line was set at USD 402 million.


Among the major contributors to the revenue generated by the state between January and August 2020, was the General Directorate of Taxes (DGI), injected USD 941 million  (30.8%) to the national coffers. The General Directorate of Customs and Excise (DGDA) managed to mobilised USD546 million; with another USD362 million coming from the Directorate of Administrative and State Revenue (DGRAD). An additional USD48 million came from the country's oil  production.

Despite the low revenue generated, local economists have commended the government's macroeconomic management structure and the monetary policy applied by the Central Bank, which eased expenditure and reduced budget deficit.

The coronavirus pandemic had impacted negatively on the Congolese economy, that relies heavily on mineral export.