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.