Stampede at Kinshasa Western Union outlets

This past week saw a stampede at Kinshasa Western Union
outlets--culminating on New Year's Eve when they were thronged by
Kinois who got remittances from family members living overseas.

Yesterday, a member of my household who got $100 from Lexington,
Kentucky, and $150 from Bukavu (!) spent 4 long hours in queue
before being served--and this after trying 2 other overcrowded Western
Union outlets.

A couple of years back, a DRC Central Bank official put an annual
estimate of the size of these remittances at more than $2b! In other
words, if Congolese exiles were to stop the injection of these
remittances, DRC's fragile economy could bottom out overnight. That's
all the more reason to give Congolese expats furtther rights (like the
right of dual nationality) and a say in domestic politics (the right
of voting at DRC's embassies and consulates).

In the meantime, Western Union is doing brisk business in
Kinshasa--with ubiquitous outlets all over the Congolese capital--as
well as in other parts of the country.