BREAKING: CONGOLESE GOVERNMENT WANTS TO EXTEND SEMLEX CONTRACT FOR ANOTHER SIX MONTHS

A leaked document from Foreign Affairs Minister Marie Tumba Nzeza has indicated that, the Congolese government wants to extend  its contract with Belgium based company Semlex for additional 6 months. Semlex is the company contracted in 2015, to produce biometric passports for Congolese nationals.

The contract is expected to expire on the 11th of June 2020, and the Congolese government had made an earlier announcement not to renew it.

According to the agreement between the Belgium firm and the government of Congo, by the time the contract expires Semlex must transfer government infrastructure, technical data and provide training to Congolese officials.
However due to constraints the government is not yet ready for such process; and the Foreign Minister believes that this could hamper the distribution of passports, as a result she has asked for the extension.

The minister also wants the price charged for the production and delivery of the passports be re-negotiated before the new arrangement can come to effect.

In recent months there have been pressure from Congolese civil society for government to part ways with Semlex, on the bases that the contract between both parties was illegal and benefitted the elite.
 The passports which was agreed to be sold at USD185 each, saw the Congolese government keeping USD65, and a company linked to a relative of former President Joseph Kabila receiving USD60

DRCONGO: COURT HEARING ON THE PASSPORT SCANDAL BEGINS TODAY

The Commercial Court in Kinshasa will today hear an application brought forward by organisation 'CONGO NOT FOR SALE' against Belgium based Company Semlex(Locosem), which it accuses of corruption and money laundering.

According to the organisation, the 2015 contract signed between the Congolese government and Semlex, on the production of biometric passports, was unlawful and resulted in corrupt activities.

It's also believed that Semlex had failed to meet its contractual obligation as only 693 000 of the 1850 000 passports had been delivered, while the contract expires in 3 days.

The government has already confirmed that it will not renew the contract with the Belgium company. It will also be represented at the hearing, together with the national procurement regulatory body.

 Based on an investigation carried out by news agency Reuters, in 2017, it appeared that Semlex was to charge USD185 for each passport and would return USD65 from that amount to the Congolese national treasury.

The investigation also discovered that a company owned by one of the relatives of former President Joseph Kabila, was benefitting from the contract. The company, LRPS registered under Makie Makolo Wangoi  is said to have been receiving USD60 from each passport sale.

The organisation CONGO NOT FOR SALE issued a further statement, saying that LRPS had pocketed USD36 million from the deal.

VITAL KAMERHE TRIAL: AMIDA SHATUR'S ASSISTANT UNDER ARREST

VITAL KAMERHE TRIAL: AMIDA SHATUR'S ASSISTANT UNDER ARREST

Marie Josee Mengi, who is said to be the assistant of Amida Shatur, the wife of Vital Kamerhe, has been placed under provisional arrest.
According to reports, the woman presented herself at the Attorney General Office of Matete on Monday 8th June 2020; she was accompanied by well known lawyer and politician Francis Kalombo.

After being questioned for several hours by the prosecutors, it was decided that she should be detained.

Last week during her testimony in court, Amida Shatur named Marie Josee Mengi as her assistant who took care of some of her financial transactions, they court then asked Amida if she knew her whereabouts, which she replied that she didn't.
Later after the trial a search warrant was issued for her to be located.

Amida had earlier told the court that she received large sum of money, including USD 862 000, as part of her wedding gifts; this was after she was asked to explain the sudden and large increase of her bank balance

Shatur was testifying in the trial of Vital Kamerhe, Chief of Staff of President Felix Tshisekedi. Kamerhe and his co-accused Samih Jammal are alleged to have embezzled USD57 million meant for the construction of prefab houses for the Congolese military. The trial will continue on the 11th of June 2020.

KINSHASA MARKET CONSTRUCTION: TENSION BETWEEN GOVERNOR NGOBILA AND INTERIOR MINISTER KAKONDE

The Governor of Kinshasa, Gentiny Ngobila has made it clear that the rehabilitation work at the Central Market of Kinshasa 'Marche Central' will continue as planned, and that those who are not happy with the decision can go and form their own country.

He made the announcement just few days after the national minister of Interior, Gilbert Kakonde, ordered the renovation works to stop.

According to Minister Kakonde, the renovation works were illegal because there was a contractual agreement between the City of Kinshasa and the company SAFRICOM, signed several years ago, which gave renovation and maintenance rights to the company. As a result it's only SAFRICOM that can currently rehabilitate the central market.

But some documents confirmed that Governor Ngobila had terminated the contract after SAFRICOM had failed in its duty to maintain the market.

Governor Mbaka cited among other reasons, that the market was filthy and there were illegal constructions all over.

SAFRICOM replied by arguing that Gentiny Ngobila did not follow the rule when terminating the contract since he did not provide the six months notice period before excuting the order.

This argument seems to be supported by the minister, who is now waiting for the District Court of Gombe to make a final decision on the matter.

The Kinshasa Central Market is one of the oldest market in the city, which will soon be celebrating 50 years of existence.

KINSHASA: FOOD PRICES IN SOME MARKETS DROP SIGNIFICANTLY, THANKS TO GOVERNMENT INTERVENTION

VITAL KAMERHE TRIAL: CONGOLESE AUTHORITIES CHASE AFTER JAMMAL'S TWO SONS

The Attorney General in Kinshasa has sent an extradition letter to the authorities in Lebanon, appealing for the transfer of two of its nationals to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), to face charges of corruption.

The letter, with the copy sent to Interpol, accuses Jammal Hussein and Jammal Jammal of colluding with Daniel Massaro Nkingi to embezzle more than USD48 million, from the Congolese state.

The two Lebanese men are the children of Samih Jammal, the co-accused in the trial of Vital Kamerhe, the Chief of Staff of President Felix Tshisekedi.
Massaro is Kamerhe's nephew, who worked for the state insurance company SONAS, he's currently under detention.

The Attorney General Matis Kisula Yeye, claimed that Jammal's children had handed various expensive gifts including money and luxury vehicles to Massaro, in order to secure lucrative government contracts.
It's alleged that they played an instrumental role in ensuring that their family companies, SAMIBO CONGO and HUSMAL SARL, won government contracts to build 1500 and 3000 prefab houses for the Congolese military and police.
However according to the public procurement rules, the contracts were illegally obtained

Should Jammal Hussein and Jammal Jammal be arrested, they are most likely to testify in the trial of their father Samih Jammal and Chief of Staff  Vital Kamerhe.

Kamerhe and Jammal's trial, which had already started, will resume on the 11th of June 2020; the pair are currently facing charges of looting USD57 million of public money

UDPS CONGRATULATES THE NEW PRESIDENT OF BURUNDI

The Union for Democracy and Social Progress (UDPS), has sent a congratulatory message to the newly elected President of Burundi, Evariste Ndayishimiye.

On behalf of the party and its President Felix Tshisekedi, UDPS called Ndayishimiye's victory a demonstration of confidence the people of Burundi have on the vision of the ruling party. Ndayishimiye, who was the candidate for the ruling CNDD-FDD party, won the Presidential Election with 68.72% of the votes; with the party securing 72 of the 100 seats in Parliament.

UDPS, whose own leader is the current Head of State of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), also promised to offer support to the new Burundi leader in working towards improving and maintaining good relations with the DRC.

Although diplomatic  relations between the two neighbours have remained relatively calm over the past decades, the security situation in the eastern parts of Congo often poses a threat to this.
Currently Burundian rebels, The National Liberation Force (FNL), have set up base in Congo to carry out attacks against their government. Some reports have also alleged that, the Burundian national army will sometimes enter Congolese soil to hunt the rebels, and commit atrocities against Congolese civilians.

KINSHASA: N'DJILI AIRPORT LOAN, CHINESE GOVERNMENT FINALLY RESPONDS

The government of China, through its embassy in Kinshasa, has finally added its voice on the alleged loan granted to the Congelese government, for the construction of a new Kinshasa International Airport.

In a statement, the embassy denied that Exim Bank, the Chinese state development bank, had concluded such agreement; but instead it had proposed a loan offer which was to be repaid in a period of 20 years. The statement then added that, the Congolese government had been studying the offer and it's yet to approved it.

The embassy further denied claims made by local NGO, Association for Access to Justice(ACAJ), that Exim Bank had filed a legal complaint against the Congolese government at an international court of arbitration, over a default loan agreement.

Last week the debate around the construction of the new airport took centre stage after Transport Minister Didier Mazenga told members of the Senate that, government will be using 90% of revenue it generates from the GO PASS aiport levy to repay USD555 million it owed to Exim Bank.

 The money was meant to finance 85% of the construction work for the new terminal. However 2 years later, after the project was inaugurated by former President Joseph Kabila, not a single building structure has been built.