incidental motion introduced by rabble-rouser MLC MP Jean-Lucien Busa.
Busa made his motion about a half-hour after the opening of the
plenary session 14:09 Kinshasa Time (GMT + 1)--subsequent to the
adoption of the day's agenda and quorum call (423 MPs were present).
Today's session had in its main agenda the election of the permanent
bureau of the National Assembly.
Busa's incidental motion questioned the candidacies to the 2 posts
earmarked for the opposition by some MPs who, according to him,
weren't lined up by the opposition--including Acting Speaker Timothée
Kombo Nkisi, elected on UDPS list, and Jean-Pierre Tshimanga of the
party "Alliance pour le Développement et la République" (ADR),
respectively vying for the positions of Second Vice-President and
Deputy Rapporteur. MP Busa didn't even consider ADR--created by the
erstwhile secretary general of MLC, MP François Mwamba Tshishimbi--to
be part of the opposition. Busa called therefore for these Members of
Parliament to withdraw their candidacies.
Oh boy!
Following Busa's motion, it was a free-for-all no-holds-barred
tug-of-war: all UDPS MPs and their allies rushed to the podium,
hooting, blowing whistles--yeah, they actually brought with them
whistles inside the Congress Hall, though it's a mystery to me why
this rowdy bunch didn't think of the far more deafening vuvuzelas
Chinese shops are peddling in the Congolese capital!--jostling,
pulling, punching, shoving those who attempted to block them, and all
the while waving soccer referees' red cards at Acting Speaker Kombo
Nkisi.
As MP Kombo couldn't restore order, he suspended the session for one
hour in the hope that cool heads would prevail when the proceedings
would resume.
The reporter of the government-owned TV channel "RTNC3 Institutions"
relaying live the parliamentary session was in the meantime
desperately calling for the main station to interrupt broadcasting
live images of the melee. A self-censoring move, no doubt, that was
unfortunately duly granted.
An hour after its continuance, the session resumed in the same raucous ambiance.
Despite all the noise, Acting Speaker asked that 4 MPs speak on Busa's
motion--2 to defend it and 2 others "to destroy it," to use his own
terms.
MP Mutiri wa Bashara, who first spoke against the motion, wanted the
Speaker not to even bother with the motion and "to directly go to the
vote" of the permanent bureau.
(Acting Speaker Kombo then ordered "RTNC3 Institutions" to restore its
live broadcast as citizens were entitled to follow what was
transpiring in the precinct of the National Assembly--though by the
time he made this announcement the signal had already resumed.)
The second MP to speak against the motion (and to defend ADR's bona
fide opposition membership) dismissed Busa's accusations as baseless.
The time is long gone, he argued, when MLC was the sole representative
of the opposition, the latter now being a "plural opposition."
Busa's incidental motion was thereafter soundly defeated. After the
defeat of Busa's motion, the 4 dozen UDPS withdrew from the hall--with
the exception of 2 of them: Acting Speaker Kombo and MP André Paluku
Kavula, both candidates for the Second Vice-Presidency of the National
Assembly.
By which time the quorum had shrunk to 353 MPs.
In protest, MLC withdrew all its candidates.
By 18:38, when the vote was finally called (and after a final pitch by
the candidates present), the lineup of candidates was for the 5 posts
earmarked for the Presidential Majority was as follows:
1) Speaker: Aubin Minaku, "Parti du Peuple Pour la Reconstruction et
le Développement" (PPRD/Bandundu Province);
2) 1st Vice-President: Former Informateur Charles Mwando Simba of the
"Union Nationale des Démocrates Fédéralistes" (UNADEF/Katanga); and MP
Toussaint Ekombe Mpetsi of the "Parti Démocrate Chrétien"
(PDC/Equateur). Ekombe didn't stand a chance as he disobeyed the call
from his party leadership to desist;
3) Rapporteur: Norbert Ezadri, of the "Mouvement Social pour le
Renouveau" (MSR/Orientale);
4) Questor: Ms. Elysée Munembwe, of the "Alliance pour le Renouveau du
Congo" (ARC/North-Kivu);
5) Deputy Questor: Jean-Bosco Kaboyi, of the "Alliance des Forces
Démocratiques du Congo" (AFDC/South Kivu).
As I already said, the candidates for the 2 opposition posts were:
1) Second Vice-President: Acting Speaker Kombo (Bas-Congo) and MP
Paluku (North-Kivu)--both apparently rogue UDPS members; and
2) Deputy Rapporteur: Jean-Pierre Tshimanga (ADR/Occidental Kasai).
At 20:25, the tally of votes began, starting with the post of Speaker,
down to that of Deputy Rapporteur. A drawn-out and tedious affair
since the vote having been by secret ballot, the tally had to be
called out loud.
As of this writing, it's 9 p.m.; and they're still tallying the votes
for Aubin Minaku, the sole candidate for the Speakership. Given the
constraints of the Internet access alloted to me by Vodacom, my mobile
phone provider, I am now posting this (Minaku just got 343 votes)--for
barring an unforeseen and quite unlikely executive "act of God," the
lineup of the permanent bureau of the National Assembly will end up
being what I gave above. (It's now 9:35, Mwando Simba has just been
elected; and I can't still get access to the Internet.)
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