(PHOTO: Erstwhile DRC Transitional Vice-President Arthur Zahidi Ngoma in undated photo)
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A presidential decree signed on June 26 by President Joseph Kabila was meant to create, organize, and determine the functioning of broad-based "national consultations" between all political stakeholders in the DRC--including civil society groups.
The decree also nominated a two-member "Presidium" of the consultations consisting of Aubin Minaku, speaker of the National Assembly, and Léon Kengo wa Dondo, the president of the Senate.
The Article 10 of the presidential decree retained the following 5 "thematic groups" of the "General Estates" of these consultations: 1) Governance, democracy, and institutional reforms; 2) Economy, productive sector and public finances; 3) Disarmament, demobilization, social reintegration and/or repatriation of armed groups; 4) Community conflicts, peace, and national reconciliation; and 5) Decentralization and reinforcement of state authority.
One by one, opposition parties and personalities turned the proposed "consultations" format down flat. (Oddly, Kengo had to break with his own party, which joined other opposition parties in this rejection, in order to co-chair the consultations).
Opposition parties are foremost objecting to the concept of "consultations"--concertations in French-- which, according to them, can only be carried out among people who see eye to eye.
Now, they opine, there's a fundamental gulf between the Kabila administration and the opposition ever since the general elections of November 2011 that can only bridged through "dialogue among equals."
In the wake of those elections, the opposition goes on to charge, the presidency has been marred by a "crisis of legitimacy"--an expression that makes Kabila supporters bristle with anger, for it is construed by them to be just as dysphemistic as this other favorite expression of the opposition: "electoral hold-up."
Both of these expressions are thrown in the airwaves on a daily basis by opposition politicos in contentious radio and TV political talk shows.
To be true, Kabila's June 26 decree instituting the forum of national consultations recalls three articles of the UN Security Council Resolution 2098 (March 2013)--including Article 14, which, in its Paragraph (b) calls on the Special Representative for the DRC to "perform" among other "tasks":
"Promote inclusive and transparent political dialogue among all Congolese stakeholders with a view to furthering reconciliation and democratization and encourage the organization of credible and transparent provincial and local elections [highlight added].
Nowhere in the paragraph above, the opposition contends, is there any mention of "consultations" whereas "political dialogue" is clearly written down and urged.
The opposition is also accusing the Kabila camp of attempting to use these consultations as a launching pad for the constitutional change that would allow Kabila to seek other terms in office--a "de facto presidency for life," as some, including Vital Kamerhe, are clamoring.
Since Kabila and the ruling majority will be going into this dialogue on a par with the opposition, the latter insists and wants therefore that a foreign facilitator be appointed to this 15-day forum: either President Denis Sassou Nguesso of neighboring Congo-Brazzaville or someone appointed by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.
A suggestion rejected out of hand by the Kabila camp, which charges that this kind of dialogue is an attempt by the opposition to undemocratically share power (and perks) with the ruling majority--a repeat of the Transition negotiated in Sun City in 2003.
But things seem to be speeding up lately.
On Thursday, August 8, Minaku and Kengo crossed the River Congo to meet with Prez Sassou Nguesso. No one knows whether the Presidium caved in to the opposition demand to have a foreign facilitator.
Before crossing the River Congo for Brazzaville, however, the Presidium appointed the "technical secretariat" of the consultations led by Bernard Mena Mboyo as "coordinator"--which already makes some quarters of the opposition cry foul, as Mboyo used to be the right-hand man of the late Augustin Katumba Mwanke.
(In a 2009 US Kinshasa Embassy cable leaked by Wikileaks, Katumba Mwanke was described as "a kind of shady, even nefarious figure within Kabila's inner circle," who "is believed to manage much of Kabila's personal fortune.")
(On this cable, see: http://alexengwete.blogspot.com/2011/09/drc-elections-2011-watch-1-wikileaks_05.html?m=1)
Besides the coordinator and his deputy, the technical secretariat has 14 "thematic advisors" (including Franck Mwedi Malila Apenela, Kengo's own son-in-law) and 2 financial advisors.
Should one assume that the seemingly tight "refusal front" crafted by opposition leaders would end up making this Kabila's initiative peter out?
Hard to tell though. And the opposition wall is already showing big cracks.
While objecting to the format, some major vestigial opposition figures have nevertheless come out to pledge their participation to this forum.
They include Christian Badibangi and erstwhile transitional Vice-President Arthur Zahidi Ngoma.
I'd just hope that the "thematic advisors" would be able to rein in the extravagant oratory flourish of the likes of Zahidi Ngoma.
Here is for instance what Zahidi Ngoma said at a presser on Tuesday, August 6:
"Let's descend into the tumult of our cities and of our diverse homelands where swirls and is moved the great human angst in search of deliverance; let's bring closer, for the fortunate confrontation where misunderstandings dissipate, the geniuses of our diverse homelands that the same destiny [...] makes inevitably united."
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PHOTO CREDITS: Via rfi.fr
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