1) MLC Congress: Jean-Pierre Bemba for President
Jean-Pierre Bemba aka Chairman aka Igwe aka Petit-Mobutu
Stade Tata Raphaël
Kinshasa, Thursday, July 26, 2006
Photo: Reuters
Saturday July 23. It’s now clear that MLC has signed a suicide pact with its leader Jean-Pierre Bemba aka Chairman aka Igwe aka Petit-Mobutu, erstwhile warlord and ICC jail inmate. Its 2-day Second Congress in Kinshasa renominated Bemba as its chairman and, hence, its presidential candidate. Driven by the flimsy hope that their leader would soon be found not guilty by the ICC, MLC Congress participants took the crazy bet of having Bemba as their nominee. Well, the ICC better acquit Bemba very quick then. For, according to the election timetable published by CENI on April 30, legislative and presidential candidates have to fill file their candidacies with CENI between August 4 and September 17.
Bemba renomination seems to put MLC at loggerheads with UDPS. Kinshasa had indeed been abuzz with crazy scenarios when Etienne Tshisekedi paid a visit to Bemba in his prison cell at The Hague on Friday, July 15. Rumors were rife then on the endorsement by Bemba of Tshisekedi.
2) Ousted MLC Secretary General François Mwamba comes up with own “political platform”
François Mwamba Tshishimbi
At his peak as Chairman of MLC caucus at the National Assembly
Saturday July 23. While his former party, the MLC, was renominating his former boss and friend as its chairman and presidential candidate, sixty-year-old François Mwamba was launching his own “political platform” called Alliance pour le Développement et la Répubique (ADR) at the conference hall of Sainte-Anne parish in Gombe Commune, in downtown Kinshasa. Mwamba insisted that his “platform” is in the opposition.
So far, nothing extraordinary, in a country that has in excess of 200 political parties and counting.
Some parties are just one-man-with-an-attaché-case schemes to get into alliances with big parties and thus position themselves in the right pecking order inside the vast racketeering machine of neopatrimonialism. Others are somehow legitimate politicians who know when it’s time to move on. François Mwamba might fall in the latter category. For there’s no other way to explain what he said in the inaugural speech of his party: “strange!” Kinois pundits marveled, “François in the arms of Kabila!”
Strange, indeed, or even uncanny, for, at the peak of his career as chairman of the MLC caucus in the National Assembly, Mwamba was not only vocal in its his denunciation of real or imagined of the malfeasance of the Kabila regime, but he also didn’t think twice about going into the gutter to score cheap political points—kicking the ruling majority really hard in the belly when they were wriggling on the ground.
In a post of early June 2010, I gave an example of Mwamba’s ferocity, in the aftermath of the murder of rights activist Floribert “Flori” Chebeya, which occurred just as the country was gearing up for the festivities of the 50th anniversary of independence.
As he withdrew the MLC from participating in the festivities, Mwamba, seething with rage, appeared on TV and said:
“In light of the culpable indifference of the government in the face of the martyrdom of the Congolese people and so as not to give our support to the utilization of assassinations and other political crimes as instruments of governance in our country, the MLC hereby declares, bound by the duty of solidarity with these numerous victims, that it will not participate in the activities organized by the [powers-that-be] on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the accession of our country to independence. Consequently, the MLC urges its elected representatives—national and provincial senators and deputies, members and sympathizers not to get involved in these festive activities of June 30, which are in contradiction with the social reality of our country and, above all, with the goal of the fight, led at times at the price of their lives, by the fathers of independence.”
Well, that was Mwamba then—a year ago.
And this is François Mwamba of today, who said the other day at the launch of his party:
“As a Republican and for the oppositionist that I am, I am duty bound to acknowledge that on the scoreboard of the incumbent government there are some achievements that deserve to be hailed. Indeed, in matters of security for example, we all recall that five years ago, the Nkundas, Mutebusis, Ntagandas, the FDLR militiamen and other outlaws, were still wreaking havoc with all impunity in the eastern part of our country on a completely forsaken populationof our country.Today, we can acknowledge that the level of violence, of killings, of rapes, and of the plunder of natural resources has considerably abated in that part of the country.Most warlords have been one way or another neutralized and the black sheep that used to dishonor our army who were culpable of the very same excesses as these criminals against the civilian population are now being prosecuted, and at times, heavily sentenced. One can, to date, move relatively in security from Beni to Goma, even to Bukavu.In the capital, repair works of some thoroughfares are starting to be visible, though contracts were awarded in conditions of opacity.”
Wow! This is bloviation on autopilot! The man is clearly attempting to bloviate his way out of his previous statements in hopes that bullshit-detectors of the rest of the “residents of the republic” would be malfunctioning. Let’s hope so at least. Otherwise, one would instead be tempted to make the sickening case that Kinshasa is a country curled up unto itself in a fetal position, with Kinois politicians cut off from the reality of the Congolese of the hinterland.
Well, there may be a scramble, a stampede of desperate politicians at the gates of the Raïs’ Kingakati farm, in the outskirts of Kinshasa. But Mwamba is certainly not among them. Actually, it is the PM that would seek to woo him. For one, he’s from the same tribal area as Tshisekedi and thus could help the presidential cartel nibble at UDPS votes in its own stronghold. Furthermore, Mwamba has charisma and would certainly add luster to the image of the Raïs if he were allowed to campaign for him, or to serve in government in some capacity.
3) PALU won’t field a presidential candidate
Antoine Gizenga, Joseph Kabila, Nzanga Mobutu, Adboulaye Yerodia
Undated Photo
Saturday July 23. The PALU—Parti Lumumbiste Unifié—of 86-year-old veteran politician Antoine Gizenga, one-time ally of Patrice Lumumba and former Prime minister (2006-2008), will not field a presidential candidate in November. It’ll instead back a “nationalist candidate from the left”—whatever that means for political-ideology-challenged political parties of the DRC. PALU, while not being a member of the MP (the presidential majority cartel), is a key partner of the government. Adolphe Muzito, the current DRC Prime minister, is a PALU member who had replaced Gizenga when the latter resigned for the grueling work schedule that had become unsustainable for his old age.
Gizenga claimed to have sent feelers for a project of “political agreement” (“entente”) with unnamed partners. And if no one responds by some unspecified deadline to these feelers, Gizenga added, PALU “will shortly feel compelled to render public its project and to take responsibility for it.”
Gizenga’s statement clearly indicates that there’s some tension in its partnership with Kabila’s MP. Ever since the change in the MP in March (it switched from AMP to MP—prompting cruel jokes in Kinshasa Radio-Trottoir that it’d only take a mere letter “R” to turn it into Mobutu’s infamous MPR party), speculation has been rife that the Muzito government would be reshuffled, Muzito himself “retired” in order to give room to the new alliance members jostling for cabinet positions. But these rumors proved to be baseless, as Muzito is still there and the 2006 partnership agreement is binding till the next election cycle—though this didn’t prevent the Raïs from firing former Deputy Prime minister François-Joseph Nzanga Mobutu in March. Mobutu, then chairman of UDEMO (Union des Démocrates Mobutistes), was also party to the same 2006 agreement.
Prime Minister Adolphe Muzito (PALU) and Joseph Kabila
Undated photo and unspecified location
4) Senate Prez Léon Kengo wa Dondo launches UFC (Union des Forces de Changement), his new political party.
Léon Kengo wa Dondo aka Léon Lubicz
At the launch of his party
Stades des Martyrs
Kinshasa, Sunday, July 24
Photo: John Bompengo/Radio Okapi
Sunday July 24. Seventy-six-year-old Léon Kengo wa Dondo—formerly Léon Lubicz (also spelled Lubitch by Congolese media) before Mobutu’s decree banning foreign and Christian names—launched his new political party UFC at the main football stadium of Kinshasa, the Stade des Martyrs. Hundreds of people attended the event, though it doesn’t seem that his old buddy Cardinal Laurent Mosengwo was in attendance, as previously announced. In a report smacking of partisan op-ed, Kinshasa daily Le Potentiel adopts the language of military campaign to describe the launch of Kengo’s party: “The Stade des Martyrs has fallen. And with it, the capital of the DRC. With Kinshasa as the epicenter, the effects should extend to the provinces.” I can’t wait to see just how this three-time Prime minister of Mobutu would win the hearts of and minds of the Congolese from the interior, particularly those of eastern provinces of Congo. Kinshasa might have found nonetheless its replacement for Jean-Pierre Bemba. But in his one-hour long speech in Lingala, Kengo didn’t even once mention his bid for the presidency.
Kengo wa Dondo
Addressing the crowd of his Kinshasa supporters
Photo: John Bompengo/Radio Okapi
5) UDPS Memo to Mrs. Cindy McCain decried by ruling coalition
MP Jean-Louis Ernest Kyaviro Malemo
Monday July 25. It seems that on her recent trip to the Congo, Mrs. Cindy McCain was handed a memorandum by UDPS. The text of the memo is alleged to have been published in the July 20 issue of Congo News, a Kinshasa newsprint whose website address I couldn’t locate. Or it may be that the paper has yet to set up a website. Anyway, MP Jean-Louis Ernest Kyaviro Malemo, a member of Forces Nouvelles (FR), a party affiliated with MP, took the pain of responding to the memo in an op-ed published in the pro-Kabila daily L’Avenir titled “Reaction to UDPS to Mrs. Mac Cain” (I highlight Mac Cain because that’s how the name spelled from the beginning to the end of the op-ed piece).
MP Kyaviro writes that the outrageous memo was penned by none other than Jacquemain Shabani, who, so it seems, is busy these days writing memos instead of focusing his energies on the revival of his decaying party.
MP Kyaviro alleges that the memo was given to Mrs. McCain when she went to visit the Kinshasa headquarters of UDPS where she met secretary general Jacquemain Shabani and Albert Moleka, chief of cabinet of Etienne Tshisekedi. Kyaviro starts his close-reading of the memo by saying that it could be simply summed up as “monkeying with national sovereignty”—a memo filled with “fallacies” and an anticipation of “post-electoral troubles.” As the author of the memo assumed that Mrs. McCain was visiting the Congo in the capacity of the official representative of the Republican Party—I don’t know where Jacquemain Shabani got this idea—UDPS urged her to bring in GOP election experts to audit and supervise CENI. A suggestion Kyaviro indignantly rejects as preposterous and presents Shabani with this goofy scenario instead:
“Reciprocity and equality between all United Nations members would make a similar action obligatory in the direction of Washington, that is, a Congolese official would for example go to the United States and investigate why Republicans are hindering President Obama’s fiscal initiatives.”
This is brilliant! I must admit, I never thought of that!
6) The Electoral Process might have hit an insurmountable snag: CENI “Code of Conduct” dissed by opposition
Adolphe Lumanu, Daniel Ngoy Mulunda, Roger Meece, Jacques Ndjoli
Vice-Premier and Interior Minister; the President of CENI; UN Secretary General Special Representative in the Congo and head of MONUSCO; and Vice-President of CENI
Palais du Peuple
Kinshasa, Monday, July 25, 2011
Photo: Miriam Asmani/Monusco
Monday July 25. It’s now almost certain that the DRC is heading for “matata mingi”—Lingala for “trouble big time,” as the electoral process might have hit an insurmountable snag. Snag set up by UDPS, which continues harassing CENI, with the backing of other uninspired opposition leaders following Tshisekedi’s rejectionist stance like the Biblical lamb being led to the slaughter.
Consider this: the UN Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO), alongside reputable and experienced international NGOs such the Electoral Institute for the Sustainability of Democracy in Africa (EISA) and the National Democratic Institute (NDI) have assisted CENI in drawing a “Code of Conduct” for peaceful elections to be signed by all political parties after an open discussion in workshop where they would have the opportunity to amend the draft document. The Code of Conduct is actually an empowering tool for the opposition containing binding provisions on tolerance, honor, mutual respect, equal access to state-run media during the electoral campaign, and protection of journalists as well as their duty of impartiality.
Invitations were sent to political parties to show up for at the workshop organized at a conference hall of the Palais du Peuple, the National Assembly not currently in session. Opposition leaders showed up in force. And when they were asked to discuss, amend, and adopt the document, which is to be formally ratified on August 2, all opposition representatives walked out of the conference hall. A manoeuver that baffled the good people who’d put so much effort and money into helping these hopeless leaders.
Thomas Luhaka, the newly-appointed MLC secretary general, blurted out: “The opposition will take this document, analyze it each one in their own party, and amend it.” Which was precisely the purpose of the workshop, in a process where time is now of the essence.
The obstruction is just amazing. UDPS thinks it’s entitled to just step into power without going through an election. What’s more, it wants access and control of the webserver of CENI! And it is adamant that if its requests didn’t come to pass, then it will bring the whole process to a screeching halt. UDPS leaders think they’ve got international behind this master plan. That’s why instead of deploying concrete action countrywide, Tshisekedi embarked on intercontinental trips to discredit the election process. For its part, MLC is hopeless after nominating a jail inmate as its presidential candidate and is unwilling to admit the sheer madness of its choice. And these two parties are joined in their macabre project by a host of meaningless tiny parties. I said macabre because in the end, it’s those who don’t care about politics who’d die in the streets of Kinshasa and in the provinces.
The document was nonetheless adopted by responsible political parties.
In a related development, the press in Kin is reporting that Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs sent on July 25 a message of congratulation and encouragement to CENI. Some newspapers close to the ruling coalition had headlines claiming that it reads like "Barack Obama's recommendation to the opposition." But I couldn’t find any such message on the State Department portal.
UPDATE (7/29):
I finally found Johnnie Carson's Press Release on the elections in the DRC on the portal of the US Embassy in Kinshasa.
Full statement:
UPDATE (7/29):
I finally found Johnnie Carson's Press Release on the elections in the DRC on the portal of the US Embassy in Kinshasa.
Full statement:
"Statement on the Electoral Process in the DRC
Released on July 25, 2011
The U.S. Department of State’s Assistant Secretary for African Affairs, Ambassador Johnnie Carson, has taken note of the successful completion of the voter registration process in the lead up to Congolese presidential and legislative elections. The electoral process is off to a good start. The Assistant Secretary extends his compliments to the President of the National Independent Electoral Commission (CENI), the CENI Commissioners, and the CENI staff for the work they have done. The Assistant Secretary also congratulates Congolese citizens for their peaceful participation in this phase of the electoral process. The U.S. Embassy in Kinshasa takes note of the weekly meetings held by the CENI to include all political parties and civil society representatives. The Embassy strongly urges all political parties to sign the elections Code of Conduct and further urges the political parties to participate peacefully in the elections and not to boycott. The United States fully supports a credible electoral process in which all political parties can participate openly and fairly and the will of the Congolese people is respected. To conclude, elections are an important part of the democratic political process and we hope all of Congo’s citizens and political parties will participate fully and peacefully in the electoral process that is underway."
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