rules and regulations
Article 22 of the rules and regulations of the new National Assembly
was struck down as unconstitutional by the Supreme Court of Justice on
Monday, March 26.
The article provided that the bureau and the committees of the
National Assembly had to be proportionally earmarked for majority and
opposition parties according to their numerical strength.
In its ruling, however, the Supreme Court found that the article was
"discriminatory" and thus violated Article 13 of the Constitution,
which proscribes any form of discrimation.
The Supreme Court determined that independent MPs were unfairly
excluded from this power sharing arrangement in the National Assembly.
The National Assembly then scrambled to rephrase that article, by
including independent MPs--with former Communication Minister and
newly elected MP Lambert Mende playing a leading role in the
reformulation of the article.
After this correction, the new rules and regulations were sent back to
the Supreme Court.
2) Playing it by ear: Kabila's wasted first 100 days
In a stinging op-ed published today, Kinshasa daily Le Potentiel
charged that Kabila wasted his first 100 days (December 20, 2011-March
30, 2012) stuck in "limbo." The op-ed also argued that during that
period the government seemed to have been "playing it by ear,"
"without benchmarks." A "grace period," the paper intimated, whose
political capital Kabila may have wasted.
Le Potentiel points to the following dysfunctions, among many others:
a) The provisional government is operating on a stopgap budget (1/10th
of the last one): the previous MPs had refused to vote this year's
budget on the flimsy pretext that they weren't paid their golden
handshake; b) The information mandate of MP Charles Mwando Simba might
have been superfluous as after the election Kabila had a clear
majority in parliament; c) The new National Assembly is 15 days late
in its operations, with a permanent bureau still to be elected; etc.
But the op-ed failed to mention the ongoing crisis in the provisional
government, pitting the acting Premier and the acting Minister of
Higher Education.
A crisis that shows that Congolese pols have either taken leave of
their senses or put paid to the notion of good governance.
It is reported that a few days before resigning, the outgoing Civil
Service Minister and elected MP decided to shuffle secretary generals
of different ministries, that is, making them exchange posts with one
another.
A strange decision as it were, since in DRC civil service secretary
generals are not political appointees: they had moved up through the
hierarchy within their own ministries and are typically considered as
experts or technocrats in their own right.
When he took over, the acting Premier voided that stupid ministerial
ordinance and ordered secretary generals to go back to their previous
posts.
But the acting Minister of Higher Education is refusing to comply and
keeps within his ministerial cabinet a secretary general he'd
appointed by conniving with the outgoing civil service minister. There
are now 2 secretary generals at this ministry--the legitimate one, a
lady who's worked for over a decade in that position, being shown the
door!
Strangely, the acting Premier can't do anything about that.
I'm receiving word that this rogue minister is one of the most vocal
sycophants of Kabila and therefore thinks he's somewhat untouchable.
In other words: the more that changes, the more it's the same bullshit!
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