No comment: MP Lindiwe Mazibuko spears Zuma in Parliament

"The president's attention has been diverted from his duties.

Energy spent on organizing a march to an art gallery and a legal

challenge to a work of satire has distracted from the serious work of

government. Representatives of the ANC and some of its ministers are

attempting to close down the space for freedom of expression through

bullying and intimidation."



--MP Lindiwe Mazibuko, 32

Opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) party Caucus Leader

To Jacob Zuma, 70, sitting in Parliament

Cape Town, South Africa

Wednesday, May 30, 2012

PHOTO CREDIT: The New Age (SA)

Read More

Doozy Wednesday in National Assembly: Opposition boycotts closed-session interpellation of Defense and Interior Ministers over alleged secret accords with Rwanda

Wednesdays are usually devoted to current affairs issues in the

National Assembly.





Ordinarily, those Wedneday sessions are dull affairs where one MP

after another would take to the floor to deliver long-winded

monologues--no doubt to impress, surely not other fellow MPs who then

take that opportunity to talk on their mobile phones or flick through

their newspapers; but most certainly viewers of RTNC-3, the

parliamentary TV channel that carries live sessions of both houses of

Parliament.





But this Wednesday, May 30, was different, as for the first time two

important cabinet members of the new government were interpellated by

the opposition.





The two ministers interpellated are government heavyweights whose

purview is the country's critical security sectors: 1) Deputy Prime

Minister and Defense Minister Alexandre Luba Ntambo; and 2) Interior

and Security Minister Richard Muyej.





Two vocal opposition MPs had lodged the "oral questions with debate"

to the ministers:





1) Former Kinshasa provincial MP and current national MP Martin

Fayulu, leader of the party ECIDé (Engagement pour la Citoyenneté et

le Développement); and





2) South-Kivu MP Jemsi Mulengwa of PANADER (Parti National pour la

Démocratie et la République).





Deputy Premier Alexandre Luba Ntambo had to explain the nature of the

alleged recent secret security accord the DRC government entered into

with its Rwandan counterpart, without first informing the National

Assembly; whereas Interior Minister Richard Muyej had to respond to

questions over insecurity in South-Kivu Province, particularly around

the locality of Fizi.





But shortly after opening the plenary session, with the two cabinet

ministers in attendance, Speaker Aubin Minaku, invoking Article 60 of

the Rules and Regulations of the National Assembly, ruled that, given

the sensitive and classified nature of the issues, the debate had to

be carried out behind closed doors.





This ruling didn't sit well with opposition MPs--especially with the

two MPs who had fielded the oral questions.





Claiming that not the Speaker alone but all the MPs present could

decide on holding a closed-door plenary session, and accusing the

parliamentary majority and the government of dissembling about the

alleged security treaty with Rwanda, opposition MPs stormed out of the

National Assembly.





Paradoxically, Deputy Premier Alexandre Luba Ntambo and Interior

Minister Richard Muyej made their responses in a closed-door session

in the absence of the authors of the oral questions.





Talking to the press outside the Congress Hall of the National

Assembly, MP Martin Fayulu charged:





"It's a move against the Constitution and against the rules and

regulations [of the National Assembly]. The Speaker of the Assembly

can't decree a closed-door session. It's the plenary session that

should do it. The minister [of defense] had signed accords in Rwanda

without informing the Parliament."





Well, the second paragraph of Article 60 the rules and regulations

merely states:





"Sessions of National Assembly are public except if, exceptionally, a

closed-door session is pronounced."





As nothing in that title clearly identifies who should "pronounce" the

necessity of a close-door session, Speaker Minaku rightly assumed it

was his privilege to do so.





MPs have only themselves to blame for this gaping loophole in the

rules and regulations of the National Assembly.





Kinois in the streets and sidewalk bars were outraged and were fuming

yesterday afternoon over Speaker Minaku's procedural gimmick that

prevented them from witnessing their hero Fayulu embarrass two

cabinet ministers in what had been billed by the opposition all along

the previous days as a live TV event.





Most Kinois I spoke to claimed that Congolese leaders were a bunch of

dissemblers in cahoots with Rwanda and Ntaganga.





"They're mocking residents of the republic big time," one woman

exclaimed. "They are Rwanda's accomplices in the plunder of our

mineral resources."





Her boyfriend mocked the preposterous idea of holding a closed-door

session on classified matters "with five hundred Congolese big mouths

in attendance."





"I could've believed Minaku's explanation if it was a small committee

hearing," he added. "Not with the full house. He's a liar! He thinks

we're his gullible fools!"

Read More

KEITH HARMON SNOW's name is being used by a Filipino scammer in "Friend Stranded in Foreign Country Scam Emails"

Keith Harmon Snow, a prolific American "Africanist" blogger, is the

latest victim of "Friend Stranded in Foreign Country Scam Emails"

originating in the Philippines.





(Are Nigerian con artists now operating from the Philippines?)





I don't know whether this scammer got into one of Snow's email

accounts (by phisting) or just stumbled upon his name, which is about

everywhere on the Internet on matters relating to Africa--and

particularly the African Great Lakes Region and East africa.





I think this scammer might have gotten into Snow's account, for how

would he pick me out as his sucker? (I've exchanged tons of emails

with Keith Harmon Snow over the years, though I never met him in

person.)





Or this crook, who is mass emailing to an "undisclosed number of

recipients," just hit my email address at random?





So, Keith, if you are reading this, maybe you'd what to do with this low-life.





Anyway, below is my exchange with the Filipino crook otherwise

identified as: alll.things.pass.1@gmail.com





(Initiating this kind of exchange as I did is in itself a big mistake,

as debunkers of Internet scams would tell you, for it can lead to your

account being hacked into. But Keith is my buddy and I couldn't just

let this pass without leading on this crook before crushing him. And I

barely ever use my AOL email account. Besides, as the leitmotiv in The

Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night claims, if this meaningless

tale were to be written with a needle in the corner of the eye, it'd

still serve as a warning to the circumspect.)





***



Subject: Emergency help please; It's very urgent





Date: Sun 27/5/2012 11:45PM





From: Keith Harmon Snow <alll.things.pass.1@gmail.com>





Reply to: alll.things.pass.1@gmail.com





To: undisclosed-recipients:;







How are you? I hope all is well. I'm writing to ask you for a favor.

I'm presently in Philippinesbut I'm in a fix; I was mugged and lost my

money & cards. Would have called but I lost my mobile phone in the

course of this attack. I'm so glad I wasn't hurt. Can you please

assists me with some money[ $3100] or any amount you can afford. I'll

pay you back the money immediately I return back home next weekend.

Kindly let me know if you would be able help me with this or any

amount you can afford to lend me. I'll forward you the transfer

details upon your response. Thank you very much for your effort.

Looking forward to read from you.

Thanks,

Keith Harmon Snow.



*



My reply:





So where are you exactly? Manilla? Mindanao? And how would I send you the money?





*





The Filipino Scammer:





Re: thanks a lot; transfer details





Thank you so much for the quick response and eager to help me out. I'm

so grateful and reallyappreciate your concern. In fact, It was a bad

experience but I'm so glad I wasn't hurt. I'll be so happy to accept

any amount you could afford to lend me and I'll definitely refund you

back upon my arrival next weekend.

I've been to the nearest bank just to find out the fastest and easiest

way for me to receive money; so the Western Union Money Transfer

Service or the Money Gram Service will be easier and faster since I

can not use my personal account now. So you can make the transfer

using my name below at any western union money transfer office/outlet.

The Western union money transfer offices/outlet are usually at the

post office or any banks. You can also go to the Western union money

transfer website [ www.westernunion.com ] to find and locate a

Western union agent/office. So you can go to the western union office

with cash and make the transfer on my name.

Below are the details you will need to complete the "Sending Form" at

the western union office. Kindly help me out with the transfer as soon

as you can.

Name: Keith Harmon Snow

Address: 26 Kamias Rd Quezon City, National Capital Region

Country : Philippines.

After the transfer, you will have to scan a copyof the receipt to me

or you can just email me back with the following transfer details from

the transfer receipt. 1.*Money Transfer control number (MTCN). 2.*The

full name the sender (Your full name); 3.*The transfer amount ;

Kindly email me back as soon as you receive this email so as to

confirm you receive the transfer details. I will expect your response

soon. Thanks a lot for your effort and kindness,

Thanks,

Keith.





*





My reply:





Keith,

I only got 500 bucks. I checked with the neighborhood Western Union

outlet. They told I'll have to pay at least $20 for money transfer.

So, buddy, you'll get $480. I don't know whether that'd help you out.

But, before I go ahead and transfer the money, could you attach in

reply to this email

a picture of you taken from a mobile phone so that I'd it's really you?





*





The Filipino Scammer:





Re: Re: thanks a lot; transfer details





Yes you can make the transfer. Oh no, this is not a scam. My email

wasn't compromised and I sent you this email myself. I'll try my best

to find an internet cafe to scan and email you a copy of my passport.

Please I really need your help.

Anyway, I can understand your concern and security consciousness but

I'm not going to take your money away. I will definitely refund you

back upon my arrival just as I have explained to you in my previous

mail.

Thanks.



*



My final reply:





Re: Re: Re: thanks a lot for your effort





Fuck you, buddy! I know Keith Harmon Snow and you are no Keith Harmon

Snow. Keith is a prolific writer who writes excellent English. Not

your gibberish. Keith is from a well-to-do family and has good friends

with lots of money. I'm the last person Keith would turn to for money.

Had Keith been in narrow straits as you claim, he'd have walked into

the nearest American consulate or Embassy in Manilla to have things

sorted out! YOU ARE A LOW-LIFE THIEF AND CROOK. BACK OFF, ASSHOLE!!!

Read More

Radio-Trottoir proved true by leaked new classified UN Report: Rwanda's saber rattling in eastern DRC by proxy of warlord Ntaganda

The Congolese grapevine of Radio-Trottoir is once again proved true.





Radio-Trottoir had it, since the new

round of violence broke out in North-Kivu in early May, that Rwanda

was behind Jean-Bosco Ntaganda and his militia.





According to Radio-Trottoir, the Rwandan regime, which once thrived on

the windfall of its bloody experiment in military entrepreneurship on

Congo resources, will forever be a clear and present danger to the

DRC.





Rwanda is being helped in this enterprise, still according to

Radio-Trottoir, by the inane and incoherent security policy of the DRC

government.





Radio-Trottoir points for instance to the fact that that proving

grounds and training centers for artillery, airborne, and commando

regiments shut down more than a decade ago at the fall of Mobutu have

still to be reopened. Moreover, the Congolese Air Force that once

boasted well-trained combat pilots and French Mirage fighter planes is

in a sorry state today.





Radio-Trottoir and some opposition politicians have even gone as far

as to accuse the Congolese government of being in cahoots with Rwanda

and warlord Ntaganda.





Now, a new classified UN report leaked to the BBC and The New York

Times alleges that Rwanda has been arming, recruiting Rwandan citizens

(including kids), training them, and incorporating them into the

militias of the Rwandan-born warlord Ntaganda.





And this destabilization of eastern Congo has been planned and

implemented since February of this year, the classified UN Report

charges.





Last Wednesday, Congolese Prime Minister Augustin Matata Ponyo--

uncharacteritically for Congolese officials who are usually fearful of

provoking Rwanda, but still shying away from calling a spade a

spade--said that Ntaganda's militias have a "rear base in a

neighboring country" and called on "all concerned states [in the

region] to avoid" backing up "negative groups."





As per usual, Rwanda has dismissed the UN Report as either "rumors" or

as "false and dangerous claims."





Rwandan Foreign Minister Louise Mushikiwabo lashed out at the United

Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the DR Congo (MONUSCO),

whose military intelligence helped gather intelligence on Rwandan

involvement for the confidential UN Report.





Said Rwandan Foreign Minister Mushikiwabo:





"This billion-dollar-a-year operation [MONUSCO] makes up one quarter

of the UN's entire peacekeeping budget, and yet it has been a failure

from day one."





Mushikiwabo went on to say:





"Instead of pursuing its mandate to eradicate the FDLR menace and help

stabilize the region, MONUSCO has become a destabilizing influence,

primarily concerned with keeping hold of its bloated budgets and

justifying its ongoing existence. Rwanda has received several refugees

who are severely wounded and traumatized as a result of the UN's

failure to protect civilians in eastern DRC."





Well, heaping insults on MONUSCO won't do. And Louise Mushikiwabo can

continue to scream her denials on behalf of her government till her

voice gets hoarse.





The fact remains, however, that:





1) Rwanda had occupied for 5 long years the very same Congolese

territory where the FDLR still operates today, and "failed to

eradicate the FDLR menace."





Rwanda failed because its occupying focused instead on plundering

mineral and forest resources of the Congo--a plunderous military

entrepreneurship that resulted in the deaths of more than 5 million

Congolese civilians!





2) Already in December 2008, when then Ntaganda's boss, warlord

Laurent Nkunda, with the same militiamen, was putting to fire and

sword the same region, Daily Telegraph war reporter David Blair

uncovered what he called "a long-standing tradition" of Rwanda

recruiting its own "demobilised" soldiers and officers, re-training

and arming them, and having them join Laurent Nkunda's CNDP militias

on Congolese soil.





(See David Blair's article, titled "DR Congo rebels recruited from

Rwanda army," Telegraph, 18/12/2008.)





In the meantime, Radio-Trottoir offers this invaluable piece of

conventional wisdom to the powers that be in the Congo:





Don't blame Rwanda for taking advantage of your own failure to build a

dissuasive army able to ward off Rwanda and its proxies in the Kivus.





As long as Congo will remain THE weakling in the tough neighborhood of

the African Great Lakes region, callous bullies like Rwanda will

continue to trample on its sovereignty!

Read More

No Comment: Jacob Lenin Zuma's Penis victimized by Brett Murray, the Goodman Gallery, Zapiro, City Press, and all White South Africans

Brett Murray

The Spear, 2011

Acrylic on canvas

185 x 140cm

(Credits)

"The portrait depicts me in a manner that suggests I am a philanderer, a womaniser and one with no respect. It is an undignified depiction of my personality and seeks to create doubt about my personality in the eyes of fellow citizens, family, and children." --Jacob Lenin Zuma

 (credits)

Read More

Manichean Yarn: Cabinet submits declarations of assets as National Assembly nips in the bud proposed committee to investigate holdings of former ministers

On Wednesday, May 23, a Manichean yarn unfolded in two institutions in

Kinshasa: the Supreme Court of Justice and the National Assembly.





With much fanfare, Prime Minister Augustin Matata Ponyo and his full

cabinet went to the Supreme Court of Justice (CSJ in acronym)--still

standing for the yet to be set up Constitutional Court whose

juridiction is over such matters--to submit sealed envelopes

containing details of their assets and holdings.





This, in compliance with Article 99 of the Constitution of the DRC,

which stipulates that the Head of State and members of government,

within 30 days of taking their oaths of office, have to "submit to the

Constitutional Court a written declaration" of their assets (including

those of their spouses and dependents); failing which, they'd be

"deemed to have resigned from office."





But nowhere in Article 99 is it stipulated that these declarations of

assets have to be published and put on public records.





The CSJ has therefore so far kept to a close reading of Article 99,

interpreting it as a submission in sealed envelopes of the list of

assets of the President and cabinet ministers.





In other words, barring some "Act of God," no citizen or journalist

ever stands a chance of knowing the extent of the assets of cabinet

ministers, let alone those of the Prez.





An intolerable situation that MLC MP Fidèle Babala had vowed to

correct--especially in light of accusations of massive theft hanging

over former PM Adolphe Muzito--by suggesting, at the plenary session

of May 16, the creation of a commission to investigate the assets of

former ministers.





A motion that was nipped in the bud by the majority in the plenary

session of Wednesday, May 23.





Just like the CSJ, the majority argued that the ministers'

declarations of assets are so to speak constitutionally wrought in

secrecy. A false interpretation of the Constitution, as it were.





In any case, Speaker Aubin Minaku advised MP Babala to turn his

request into an oral or written motion to be submitted to the internal

revenue directorate, to whom after all the CSJ sends those sealed

envelopes for safekeeping.





MP Babala is however determined to continue his crusade, promising

he'd soon submit an "oral question with debate to fiscal authorities."

Read More

Radio-Trottoir Feed: Government mocks Residents of the Republic

I'd be exaggerating if I said that the mood is insurrectionary in Kinshasa.





(Though on Monday there were motorized patrols by heavily armed

"robots," as riot cops are dubbed here, after incidents in which

posses of the Drivers' Association of the Congo beat up those of their

members who scabbed, burning their vehicles. And last night, I saw two

UN police trucks on patrol.)





There's definitely no mass movement of outrage able to coalesce into

something akin to the worlwide urban uprisings of Indignados or Occupy

WallStreet and the likes.





But make no mistake. Anger, resentment, and frustration directed at PM

Augustin Matata Ponyo are not only palpable but have also about

reached boiling point among residents of the People's Republic of

Kinshasa ever since Monday one-day strike by public transport

operators.





(The strike so much terrified the powers-that-be that President Joseph

Kabila hastily convened Monday an emergency cabinet meeting where it

was agreed to rid transporters of the daily hassles they face on their

routes. The government also promised to purchase a fleet of buses to

revive two moribund state-owned public transport companies.)





Parts of the deleterious mood in the Congolese capital were captured

in the op-ed published Tuesday, May 22, by the daily Le Potentiel and

titled "Accord de Kigali : des monstrueuses contradictions" [Kigali

Accord: Monstrous Contradictions].





The article excoriates PM Augustin Matata Ponyo whose government, it

charges, is conspiscuously notable for its infirmities and

"monstrous" "inner contradictions."





A government that has turned its own citizens into saps and suckers

it's "mocking" with impunity, the op-ed contends.





Though the piece deals primarily with the two rounds talks held in the

Rwandan cities of Rubavu and Kigali in mid-May between Rwandan and

Congolese governments (meetings about which the government said

nothing to the nation), it also charges the prime minister of dragging

his heels in drafting the budget for the current fiscal year (the

government operates by increments of quarterly interim budgets!), and

of lacking a coherent urban public transportation policy that caused

on Monday a major disruption in the livelihood of millions of Kinois.





The ire of Kinois is further exacerbated by the reappearance on

opposition TV shows of Kinois MP Gérard "Gécoco" Mulumba leveling

renewed charges of theft of public money against former PM Adolphe

Muzito (see also my post of March 15, 2012).





Gécoco is backing his accusations with extensive footage of what he

calls the "sprawling field of mushrooms of villas, office and

apartment buildings" Muzito has purchased or is having built by German

construction teams in Kinshasa and his native Kikwit (Bandundu

Province) with money allegedly stolen from government coffers.





A mockery of citizens that has gone haywire.





No love lost then between the Kinois and Premier Matata--their

newfound whipping boy. (Why they don't go after Matata's boss--the

Prez, that is--is a mystery to me.)





This situation makes for fertile ground for the wildest conspirary theories.





One of those conspiracy theories was mainstreamed by Le Potentiel's

op-ed mentioned above.



This conspiracy theory alleges that Congolese authorities have

themselves been turned into saps and suckers by the Rwandan

government.





Item: Just when the FARDC were in the thick of their

search-and-destroy ops against militiamen led by Jean-Bosco Ntaganda

and his associates, Rwanda twice called security summits to deal with

the FDLR in order to justify yet another intervention in the Congo in

the guise of joint military operations.





These summits were no doubt a Rwandan dilatory move to give much

needed respite to Ntaganda's militiamen and to stymie the momentum of

the FARDC with meaningless talks focusing on the FDLR threat.





A first security meeting was convened on May 12 at Rubavu; and a

second one on May 18-19 in the Rwandan capital.





Never mind if this was the annual 5th Ordinary Session of the Mixed

Commission Rwanda-DRC, a gathering usually held in May.





The narrative of the conspirary theory transmogrifies the Congolese

government into a Janus-faced entity: a spineless government when it

is faced with the Rwandan bully and boogeyman; a callous government

that relentlessly hassles and mocks its own citizens!

Read More

National Assembly: Consensus reached but tainted by female MPs' near insurgency

Cool heads finally prevailed in the National Assembly.





A consensus between the opposition and the majority MPs on the issue

of the 2 supercommittes (PAJ and ECOFIN) was finally reached shortly

before the opening of the plenary session of Monday, May 21.





The vote on the contentious issue, with the opposition threatening to

withdraw its participating from the parliamentary committees at the

plenary session of Saturday, was averted at the last minute.





The formula worked out between the leaders of parliamentary caucuses

was the following: while pro-Kabila MPs will chair those 2

supercommittees, the opposition MPs will be embedded in them as their

ranking members in two key positions: 1) First Vice-president; and 2)

Rapporteur.





A vote was then called to fill the 35 posititons of the 7

committees--with a few other positions left vacant; and subcommittees

still to be set up.





Thus opposition firebrand, MP Christian Badibangi, was elected 1st VP

president of the Political, Administrative and Judiciary Committe

(PAJ). The Sociocultural Committee chairmanship went to opposition

female MP Bazaiba (MLC).





There are two committees chaired by the opposition: the Sociocultural

Committee chaired by MP Bazaiba, and National Planning and

Infrastructures Committee.





The plenary session of the afternoon of Tuesday, May 22, opened with

female MPs sitting in the front rows of the hemicycle in Congress Hall

of the Palais du Peuple.





That chivalry extended by Speaker Aubin Minaku did nothing to diffuse

the wrath of female MPs, who felt cheated by the power grab of their

male counterparts.





No sooner had Speaker Minaku gavelled in the plenary session than MP

Adèle Kayinga of the Presidential Majority launched a scathing attack

against the male-dominated National Assembly with her incidental

motion.





"Is it normal," MP Kayinga seethingly asked, "to have only one woman

in all those commissions?"





"It's not normal!" MP kayinga answered her own rhetorical question.





She went on to "denounce" on record the lack of "female

representation" in those committees.





Another female MP said the composition of committees evinced the fact

that "gender discrimination rules in our country."





MLC MP Germain Kambinga, while sympathizing with the plight of

"charming" female MPs of the Presidential Majority, urged them to

henceforth stop accepting being used as "human shields" whenever the

majority finds it expedient to further its political designs in

Parliament.

Read More

Public transport operators on strike: Kinshasa pedestrians without Spirits-of-Death

Millions of Kinois pedestrians had to walk today, the start of the

strike of public transport operators.



(I had to walk close to 5 miles from my house to Place Victoire this

morning. By the time I go back home, if there are still no taxis, I

would have walked 10 miles today.)





The striking transporters are complaining about the "tracasseries"

(hassles) they are subjected to.





Typical daily tracasseries involve:





1) Paying 500 Congolese Francs (about 50 cents) to each one of the

highway cops encountered at jammed intersections on the bus route;





2) Paying fines (without receipts of the fines paid) to agents of

public transportation authority or to any other agent in uniform, lest

the bus is impounded;





3) Paying more "fines" to agents of SONAS, the national insurance

company that has a countrywide monopoly on insurance;





4) Buying the expensive new biometric driver's license; and, last and

not least,





5) Compliance with new safety requirements being imposed on owners of

the imported second-hand Mercedes-Benz delivery vans of the model

series ranging from 207 to 308 with cargo box bodies, used here as

buses, and which the Kinois have nicknamed "207 esprits-de-mort"--or

spirits of death, due to the grim death tolls they continue to reap on

Kinshasa thoroughfares.





Esprits-de-mort Mercedes-Benz delivery vans are stifling clungers

retrofitted with between 6 to 8 rows of wooden benches.





With each bench sitting 4 passengers, a typical van crams up to 32

people--plus the lucky 2 persons sitting on the passenger seat by the

driver.





Oh, I forgot to count the 6 non-paying passengers clinging for their

lives on the outside of the van: 3 on the side where there's the door

to the cargo box; and 3 on the back.





No one knows whether this strike would be sustainable enough for

public transportation operators to stretch it for days on end.





Kinois pedestrians, on their part, are angry at both camps: at the

authorities for the daily tracasseries of drivers by uniformed and

plainclothes goons, as well as for not providing decent public

transport to the "residents of the Republic"; and at public transport

owners for grounding their Spirits of Death in a city that has spread

far and wide beyond the narrow imagination of urban planners--bloated

before blasting into an anarchic monster.

Read More

National Assembly: Opposition boycott looms over Monday vote on control of supercommittees

The scrum between opposition and pro-Kabila MPs over the control of

two key committees (dubbed "permanent commissions") continued at the

plenary session of Saturday, May 19.





The two supercommittes being disputed are: the PAJ (Political,

Administrative, and Judiciary Committee) and the ECOFIN (the Economic

and Financial Committee).





Opposition MPs, hell-bent on controlling those two supercommittees--or

barring one of them, the chairmanship of the strategic Committee on

Defense and Security--couldn't budge MPs of the majority, dead set

against what they see as unbridled ambition utterly unjustified by the

strength of their rivals in the National Assembly.





As the two sides couldn't come to a consensus, Speaker Aubin Minaku

decided to have the matter put to a vote in the plenary session of

Monday, May, 21.





A move denounced by the opposition, which is aware that the odds in

such an event would be stacked up against them.





Opposition MPs wanted instead Speaker Minaku to clam down on his

fellow coaltion MPs and have them see eye to eye with the opposition!





Speaker Minaku rejected this proposition and maintained the vote for Monday.





Opposition MPs are concerned that allowing this total control by the

majority of those supercommittees would open the door to reckless

constitutional changes allowing Kabila to stand for a third term, and

total lack of oversignt over government.





Be that as it might, the outcome of Monday vote can safely be

forecast: there's no way these supercommittees will ever be given to

the opposition.

Read More

DRC GOV spokesman Lambert Mende: Full brunt of law for media outlets giving platform to terrorists Jean-Bosco Ntaganda and associates

In a news conference he held Friday, May 18, Media Minister and

Government Spokesman Lambert Mende came out swinging against media

outlets who'd be tempted to give a platform to "terrorists" Jean-Bosco

Ntaganda and his associates roaming the hills and the natural

preserves of the Kivus.





He warned that journos who'd dare to call and give interviews to

"those who kill Congolese, rape, and eviscerate pregnant women" will

feel the full brunt of the law of the land.





He bristled at the description by journalists of Ntaganda and his

followers as "insurgents" and "mutineers"--insisting renegade General

Ntaganda and officers around him are "terrorists" who've kidnapped

young men under their command and are now forcibly enlisting child

soldiers.





Pressed to explain why the government had previously shielded Ntaganda

against prosecution by the International Criminal Court (ICC), Mende

angrily retorted that "in politics, one plus one doesn't necessarily

equal two."





Mende pointed out that Ntaganda wasn't at first arrested because he's

a "criminal" who'd helped fending off a far worse menace represented

by Laurent Nkunda, another "criminal"! (A most bizarre rationale

indeed.)





Moreover Ntaganda brought to the fold of the Republic thousands of

young "compatriots," many of whom are hounding him today.





"Just imagine the threat [Ntaganda] would be representing today had he

still had under his command thousands of soldiers, instead of the few

hundreds he's got today," Mende argued.





Of the 350 soldiers Ntaganda had at the onset of his terrorist spree,

304 have rejoined the FARDC, Mende said. The military outlook of

Ntaganda is so bleak he's resorted to forcibly recruiting child

soldiers.





Adding:





"Ntaganda has now only less than 10% of the elements of his regiments

at his disposal. His clandestine weapon caches have been dismantled."





Asked to comment as to why the CNDP-- whose political leaders hold the

government responsible for the renewed spate of violence and who've

offered to be a "bridge" for talks between the government and the M-23

militia (an offer the government turned down)--still belongs to

Kabila's political alliance of the Presidential Majority, Mende said

that Speaker Aubin Minaku ought to draw the consequences of that

paradoxical situation.

Read More

Cuban VP Esteban Lazo Hernandez on a 4-day visit in Kinshasa

 Cuban VP Esteban Lazo Hernandez

(credits)

Cuban Vice-president Esteban Lazo Hernandez arrived in Kinshasa in the evening of Thursday, May 17, on 4-day visit in the Congolese capital.

Not coincidentally, Hernandez's arrival occurred on the 15th anniversary of the fall of Kinshasa to Mzee Laurent Kabila's forces and their Rwandan and Ugandan allies.

Hernandez and Joseph Kabila held talks in the morning of Friday to discuss bilateral "commercial relations" and cooperation in the areas of "education, health, electricity," the Cuban vice-president told the press as he emerged from his meeting with Kabila.

Friday afternoon, Hernandez stood wreaths at Mzee Kabila's mausoleum  and at the foot of Patrice Lumumba's monument. A state dinner, hosted by Prime Minister Matata Ponyo, was to be given for the Cuban vice-president Friday evening.

Joseph Kabila visited Havana for the first time in September of last year, flying in from New York where he'd attended the UN General Assembly. Kabila had a stopover in Havana to unveil the bust of his father, Mzee Kabila, at the Parque de los Próceres Africanos [Park of African Heroes]. As I stated in my post of 28 September 2011, the other Congolese hero at that park is Patrice Lumumba.

Read More

1) Gridlock in National Assembly; and 2) Out-of-control Secretary General MARIE-JEANNE ALULA, at the Ministry of Higher Education

1) Gridlock in National Assembly





Gridlock has been marring the National Assembly of late.





The contention is over the sharing of the chairmanships of the 7

permanent commissions and over the political make-up of the 35 members

of those commissions.





The opposition was offered 10 seats in those commissions, whereas the

majority planned on keeping for themselves the lion's sharea: 25

seats. The opposition rejected that offer and wants at the very least

12 seats.





Furthermore, opposition MPs also want to have the chairmanship of two

key commissions: 1) the Political, Administrative and Judicial

Commission (acronymed PAJ in French); and 2) the Economic and

Financial Commission (ECOFIN). A non-starter for the Presidential

Majority (MP).





Besides this wrangle with the opposition, things are further

complicated by the lack of consensus between the different caucuses

within the Presidential Majority as to which groups these individual

commissions should go to and, again, which MPs should sit in those

commissions.





A rift within the majority that was revealed by MP Ramazani Shadari,

the head of the PPRD parliamentary group, at the plenary session of

May 16.





In an unprecedented plea that put on public display the gridlock, MP

Ramazani Shadari wanted Speaker Aubin Minaku to personally intervene

so as to help settle the disagreements within the majority and the

discord between the latter and the opposition.





Speaker Minaku declined to intervene, reminding MP Ramazani that his

role was by no means to "impose a consensus" but to facilitate

contacts between various groups.





The plenary session slated for today at noon, to resolve these

contentious issues, has been postponed for tomorrow at 10am Kinshasa

time (GMT + 1).





***





2) Out-of-control Secretary General MARIE-JEANNE ALULA, at the

Ministry of Higher Education





Prime Minister Augustin Matata Ponyo is praised for the discipline he

wants to instill into his change-proof cabinet members.





It's reported that Matata typically opens his cabinet meetings at

7:30am, and any minister who arrives one minute later is denied access

to the meeting.





Matata is said to be uncompromisingly strict on punctuality. And a few

ministers were once again at the receiving end of Matata's strictness

at the second "technical meeting" of his cabinet on Monday, May 14.





(Kabila chairs ordinary cabinet meetings in the presence of Matata,

whereas the latter holds so-called technical meetings in which precise

government's plans, benchmarks and timetables are discussed and

implemented.)





It's rumored that in the first technical meeting, Lambert Mende was

shut off of the meeting for latedness, which is ironic, considering

that one of his new charges--besides Media and Relations with

Parliament--is the (much-mocked by the opposition) "Initiation to the

new citizenship," which is intended to mold the new disciplined

Congolese persona!





But it seems that the real test of Prime Minister Matata will be to

discipline the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research,

where Secretary General MARIE-JEANNE ALULA has literally been running

amok since March 1, when she was reassigned to the Ministry of Gender

and Family by the former Minister of Civil Service.





Marie-Jeanne Alula has proven to be a powerful lady indeed.





Refusing to abide by the ministerial ordnance, Alula had, on May 9,

the Appeal Court of Kinshasa-Gombe seal the doors to the offices of

the personnel she deemed to be working against her interests--all the

while placing threatening phone calls against them.





When the sidelined personnel broke into their offices, Ms. Alula had

locks to those offices changed nightly on May 10.





On May 15, the personnel who had removed those seals were unlawfully

shadowed by police detectives and arbitrarily detained.





Yesterday, I was on the grounds of the campus of Kinshasa University

to talk about the ongoing soap opera at the Ministry of Higher

Education to two mid-level managers of the university, who, strangely,

only accepted to be interviewed on the condition of anonymity.





They told me Ms. Alula is a corrupt official who usually dips into the

funds earmarked for the university. She's also a nepotist, they said,

who employs two of her unqualified daughters in her cabinet.





So much for the new style of governance being preached by Prime

Minister Matata. Also: Either the new Minister of Higher Education,

Bonaventure Chielo Lutsima--freshly from Orientale Province--is a

spineless incompetent provincial doofus; or Ms. Marie-Jeanne Alula is

protected by the very powers-that-be that are bamboozling the

citizenry with empty words about "new citizenship" and "modernity

revolution!"

Read More

National Assembly confirms government composition and action plan; and interlocutory motion by MP Jaynet Kabila passes

As could be anticipated, the National Assembly confirmed the

government's composition and action plan in the plenary session of

Wednesday, May 9.





With 388 MPs present at the moment of the vote, 324 MPs voted aye, and

53 no, the government and its action plan--with 11 MPs abstaining.





Prior to the vote, dozens of opposition MPs left in protestthe

hemicycle of the National Assembly.





Opposition MPs firmly believed that Kabila and Matata had conspired to

have the Finance Minister's status downgraded to a mere "Minister

Delegate, in charge of Finances."





They were therefore demanding that the National Assembly either send

back Kabila and Matata to the drawing board, or take the matter to the

Supreme Court of Justice that would then rule on the consitutionality

of the status of what they saw as the absence of the finance ministry

in the new government.





Matata's response to this objection irked the opposition hardliners in

the National Assembly.





Said Matata:





"[The structure and the composition of the government] are contingent

and respond to the imperatives as well as the constraints of the

moment. [...]





And the presence of a Minister Delegate to the Prime Minister in

charge of finances doesn't stem from any subjective consideration, but

rather from a contextualized assumption of responsibility, while

respecting the Constitution and the laws of the Republic."





As a matter-of-fact, the Constitution is mum on the structure and

composition of the government--as Matata pointedly reminded the MPs,

by referring them to Article 90 (Section 5) of the constitution.





Another memorable moment of the plenary session was the interlocutory

motion introduced by the president's twin sister, MP Jaynet Kabila,

following Matata's response to MPs' queries. Her motion, requiring the

government to integrate a national census in its action, was adopted

by the National Assembly. The last countrywide scientific census dates

back to 1984.

Read More

MPs flummoxed by Government Action Program presented by Premier Augustin Matata

The National Assembly held a marathon 10-hour plenary session that

started in the afternoon of Monday and ended at 00:20 of Tuesday.





(As mandated by the Constitution, the prime minister introduces

members of his new cabinet and exposes the government action plan to

the National Assembly, which then approves or rejects both--after

questions and a debate by MPs chosen by their parliamentary groups.

The premier has then from 24 hours to 72 hours to respond to MPs'

queries.)





Members of foreign diplomatic missions accredited to Kinshasa were

present in the first part of the session--lasting about 2 hours--in

which PM Augustin Matata Ponyo introduced his cabinet members and

exposed his action plan.





Matata's action plan--called Modernity Revolution (Kabila's campaign

"vision" for the country)--is very ambitious, as it aims at ushering

the DRC into the club of emergent economies by the end of Kabila's

term in 2016!





Matata claimed the objective of his action plan is to build an

"inclusise system"--Wow! Did the guy read Why Nations Fail?--an

objective with 4 main constituents:





1) To build an efficient state;





2) To develop basic infrastructure and to improve services rendered by

the state;





3) To revive floundering major production sectors; and





4) To build the capacity of human capital and to improve the

population's social welfare.





MPs, including those of the Presidential Majority, were flummoxed by

the plan's glaring lack of numbers and clear benchmarks, its failure

to detail its sources of funding and its heavy reliance on

speculations about foreign contributions to the plan. (Matata put the

cost of the plan at more than $40b spread out over 4 years.) In the

words of one opposition MP, "No statistics, no fancy charts, no

graphs, no histograms. A hollow plan!"





Opposition MPs savaged both the government lineup and the action plan.

One opposition MP said the government didn't reflect the country's

diversity (with "30% of the ministers coming from one province") and

found its make-up to be a striking display of "regionalism, tribalism,

and nepotism"--a jab no doubt at the minister of justice who also

happens to be the prime minister's sister-in-law.





Another MP charged that this cabinet was the "parallel government"

coming out of the closet at long last!





UDPS MP Sammy Badibanga even wanted to see the CVs of the new cabinet members!





Rabble-rouser MLC MP Jean-Lucien Busa called the government action

plan an anticipated "chronicle of an announced failure."





Most opposition MPs were particularly incensed by Matata hoarding his

ertswhile finance ministry--naming his former assistant, Patrice

Kitebi, not as finance minister, but as "Minister Delegate to the

Prime Minister, in charge of Finances"--in effect a fancy name for his

personal aide, one MP quipped.





"Who do you think you are?" an annoyed MP asked the Premier. "Do you

think you're the only Congolese technocrat able to manage the finances

of this country?"





Pro-Kabila MPs countered this argument by arguing that this shows that

Kabila and his new prime minister aren't joking this time around. They

mean business. And the one sure way of meaning business is to tighten

the state's pursestrings and to keep a close watch on the government's

capacity in financial resource mobilization.





Other opposition MPs openly mocked the first constituent of the

government action plan--building an efficient state--at a time when

Jean-Bosco Ntaganda's militiamen and other armed groups

continue--unabated--to wreak havoc in eastern DRC.





Throughout the session, whenever there were harsh attacks against

Kabila, there were cutaway shots to his siblings who are members of

Parliament: his twin sister Jaynet; and his baby brother, Zoe.





At the end of the session, Speaker Aubin Minaku gave Matata 24 hours

to craft his answers to MPs. The plenary session is to resume on

Wednesday at 11:00 Kinshasa time (GMT + 1).





Despite opposition MPs' calls to vote down the action plan, it's a

foregone conclusion that both the cabinet and the action plan will be

approved--Kabila's coalition enjoying a comfortable majority in the

National Assembly.

Read More

Nicolas Le Pen into the trash bin of history

French voters have spoken and, as of 8 p.m. Paris time this Sunday,

Nicolas Sarkozy has been tossed into the trash bin of history.





On March 14, the Wall Street Journal published a caustic editorial

entitled "Nicolas Le Pen." The WSJ was decrying the way Sarko had

"ramped anti-immigrant rhetoric" in a cynical "attempt to woo

supporters of Marine Le Pen's xenophobic National Front ahead of the

first-round poll on April 22."





In between the two rounds, Sarko openly courted Le Pen's supporters,

intensified his anti-immigrant attacks--turning French citizens of

North African and Sub-Saharan extraction as well as Muslims into

scapegoats of all the problems ailing France.





And, when confronted on his turning into a clone of Marinne Le Pen,

Sarko would deadpan: "Just because Madame Marinne Le Pen says the sun

rises in the east that I should deny that fact!"





Sarko's extreme right-wing rhetoric got so venomous that on May 3 the

leader of the center-right party Mouvement Démocrate (Modem), François

Bayrou, who came in 4th in the first round of the presidential

election, took the unprecedented step of endorsing François

Hollande--while disagreeing with the political project of the

socialist candidate (now president-elect) and stopping short of giving

his party members voting instruction on behalf of Hollande.





Said Bayrou:





"I don't want to leave the ballot blank, that would be indecision and

in these circumstances, indecision is impossible. What's left is the

vote for Hollande, this is the choice I'm making."





Adding:





"Nicolas Sarkozy, after a first round's good score, carried out a

pursuit race to the extreme right in which we don't find our values,

in which what we do hold as our most profound and most precious belief

was shaken up and denied in its principle."





Right now in Kinshasa, we're mostly celebrating, not Hollande's

victory, but Sarko being tossed into the trash bin of history!

Read More

God has just broken into this world in Goma: Infant born with letter from Lord Almighty to Raïs Kabila (RTNC)

Shortly before noon today, Léon Elongo Kanda-Kanda, North Kivu

provincial director of state-owned national broadcasting system

(RTNC), appeared on Kinshasa TV to announce auspicious news from Goma.

Kanda-Kanda was appearing on the mid-morning Kabila-mongering show

"701 Congo Histoire" anchored by sycophant Lushima Ndjate.





Kanda-Kanda went on to say that yesterday, Friday 4, at 4 a.m. eastern

DRC time (GMT + 2), at the Virunga quarter of Goma, a midwife

delivered a newborn (gender unspecified) with her left hand clenched

into a fist.





Upon unclenching the newborn's fist, the midwife found a letter in

Swahili from God addressed to "Raïs" Joseph Kabila.





At this juncture of Kanda-Kanda's narrative, a cutaway shot showed and

dwelled on the photocopy of God's handwritten letter to his chosen

son, the Raïs.





I'm shocked to find out that penmanship isn't God's forte. And when

Kanda-Kanda proceeded to read his copy of God's letter, I noted that

God's Swahili syntax is as muddled as His handwriting!





Listening to the confused content of the letter, it suddenly dawned on

me that God might have had one too many of "kanyanga"--the local

moonshine.





Here's the content of God's letter--with humanly- heavily edited syntax:





"Letter from God to Raïs Joseph Kabila Kabange:





Fear not, O my son





I chose you ever since you were in your mother's womb





Let them hate you





Like they hated my son





Jesus Christ





Let them be





Don't be tempted to spill blood





I've chosen you as leader





Stay in command as long as you see fit





I've chosen this illeterate woman to get this message to you





Take good care of her and her newborn;



Spoil them



Blah blah blah

Blah blah blah"





Mark this down folks: God has just most definitely broken into this

world! Which means we're living in Prophetic times! Rapture! Apocalyse

Now!... But fear not, a Messiah is alreay here: name of Raïs!

Read More

Weird recycling tale from eastern Congo: Condoms used as shoe polish and make-up remover in Goma (UhakiNews)

Magguy Kakule, a reporter who writes for the all-female Kivus-based

and IWPR-funded Congolese e-zine UhakiNews, posted a funny story on

March 20 that was only brought to my attention this afternoon.





The story is titled "Goma: Condom comme cirage moins cher" (Goma:

Condom as cheap shoe polish).





Besides the use of condoms by men as shoe polish, Kakule also reports

that condoms' lubricant is also used as make-up remover by young

women.





Well, as it turns out, those condoms are handed out for free by

AIDS-prevention NGOs. Maybe they should now think about adding shoe

polish and cleansing lotions in their AIDS-prevention kits!





Interviewed by Magguy Kakule for the story, Dr. Augustin Mbula, the

North Kivu Provincial Coordinator of the National Multi-sectorial Aids

Prevention Program (acronymed PNMLS in French), didn't find the

practice funny at all.





Dr. Mbula strongly "condems this pratice and deems it a misuse," writes Kakule.





C'mon, doctor, relax! Where's your sense of humor? And, by the way,

doctor, what are you gonna do about about it, sue those weirdoes?

Read More

Why Nations Fail: A depressing read that ought to be a reference book for Congolese politicos

D., the mother of my daughter Elikia, was in Kinshasa this past week

on a business trip.





Having read and re-read all the books I'd brought with me in Kinshasa

from the Boston and Washington over the years, I am desperate for

reading materials, as you can imagine, in a city that has no bookshops

or libraries to speak of.





I was hoping to get from D. maybe one or two novels she'd have carried

in her hand luggage. I got instead tons of books--mostly fantasy and

sci-fi trilogies--downloaded from her Amazon/Kindle account directly

into my PC Kindle virtual library (I still don't have an iPad yet).

With Kinshasa's fickle electricity, it's slow reading indeed.





My reading habit is eclectic: I can jump from, say, Niall Ferguson's

The Ascent of Money to a volume of Harry Potter. In the Kindle batch I

got, I started with Suzanne Collins's The Hunger Games Triology for

two obvious reasons: the phenomenal box office the movie version

grossed; and the imprecations it triggered in a memorable movie review

in The New Yorker.





But there's a book D. wanted me to read straightaway: Daron Acemoglu

and James A. Robinson's "Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power,

Prosperity, and Poverty."





Reading the book now--I am currently on page 84 where the historical

example is the DRC, or rather from the Kingdom of Kongo to present-day

post-Mobutu Congo--I realize I wasted my time with The Hunger Games.

I should have started with this seminal work. And if you haven't

purchased this book yet, do the right thing: do it now! It's a

collection and reference book...





This book simply reads like a thriller--what with the treasure-trove

of (often maddening) historical details the authors harness to sustain

their convincing arguments.





The gist of the book is quite simple: a historical qua political

determinism accounting for the "lay of the land" of prosperity and

poverty in today's world.





The authors give short shrift of "theories that don't work," but which

for too long have bamboozled people in trying (and failing) to explain

income and prosperity disparities in the world: 1) the Geography

Hypothesis (Montesquieu, Jeffrey Sachs, Jared Diamond)); 2) the

Culture Hypothesis (Max Weber's "Protestant ethic" for example); or 3)

the Ignorance hypothesis (Lionel Robbins and his economist followers).





If all these theories or hypotheses fail to explain anything, it's

because they can't account for the enduring "institutional legacy" the

mutually exclusive "extractive and inclusive political institutions"

have in determining the prosperity or the poverty of a given nation.

In other words, extractive political institutions beget extractive

economic institutions; and inclusive political institutions beget

inclusive economic institutions.





In the words of the authors,





"To be inclusive, economic institutions must feature secure private

property, an unbiased system of law, and a provision of public

services that provides a level playing field in which people can

exchange and contract; it also must permit the entry of new businesses

and allow people to choose their careers" (74).





Whereas the authors call the opposite of inclusive economic institutions,





"extractive economic institutions [...] because such institutions are

designed to extract incomes and wealth from one subset of society to

benefit a different subset" (76).







This is a radical departure from the newspeak of economic good

governance that is the current ideology of the World Bank and the

International Monetary Fund. Why Nations Fail would also either

invalidate--or validate (a near impossibility in the case of the DRC

(see below)--out of hand so-called elite-centered economic development

projects.







The radical departure here is the precedence political choices (made

by the elites of a nation) take over economic factors in determining

the path to prosperity or to poverty.





And the authors back up their theory with convincing examples: from

Nogales, Arizona (USA) vs. Nogales, Sonora (Mexico); to other examples

worlwide; and down to us here at ground zero of poverty in the Congo,

from the Kingdom of Kongo to post-Mobutu DRC, etc.





In the particular case of the Congo, the Kingdom of Kongo (and its

king Nzinga a Nkuwu) made contact with the Portuguese as early as

1483. The King therafter converted to Catholicism and was introduced

to Western technologies of the wheel and the plow.





But the Kongolese king chose another Western technology instead: the

gun--in order to engage in the lucrative business of slavery:





"The real reason why the Kongolese did not adopt superior technology

was because they lacked any incentives to do so. They faced a high

risk of all their output being expropriated and taxed by the

all-powerful king, whether or not he had converted to Catholicism. In

fact, it wasn't only their property that was insecure. Their continued

existence was held by a thread. Many of them were captured and sold as

slaves--hardly the environment to encourage investment to increase

long-term productivity. Neither did the king have incentives to adopt

the plow on a large scale or to make increased agricultural

productivity his main priority: exporting slaves was so much more

profitable" (60).





The colonial political system came along the same extractive line.





In the case of Congo's Mobutu and post-Mobutu regimes, the authors

point to the impossibility of simultaneity of (or synergy between)

extractive political institutions and inclusive economic institutions

within the same state formation: one set of those has to give:





"Wouldn't it have been better for Mobutu to set up economic

institutions that increased the wealth of Congolese rather than

deepening their proverty? If Mobutu had managed to increase the

prosperity of his nation, would he not have been able to appropriate

even more money, buy Concord instead of renting one, have more castles

and mansions, possibly a bigger and more powerful army? Unfortunately

for the citizens of many countries in the world, the answer is no.

Economic institutions that create incentives for economic progress may

simultaneously redistribute income and power in such a way that a

predatory dictator and others with political power may become worse

off" (83).





As I said, I am still reading the book. But so far, in light of the

theory expounded in Why Nations Fail, the current Congolese political

spiel of "Modernity Revolution" (that would propel the DRC among

emergent economies) sounds hollow to me.





For that kind of revolution to occur, the authors of Why Nations Fail

argue, you need a Weberian strong and centralized State (having the

proverbial "monopoly of legitimate violence") that would impose

uniform constraints, rights, duties, and law upon all citizens

(strong and enduring inclusive political institutions, that is, where

accountability is measurable by citizens' votes that could kick out

politicians from office); and an overnight obliteration of a system

where racketeering elites have so far thrived unimpeded and with total

impunity in the surrounding ocean of universal squalor.





Do Congolese elites have any incentives for what would amount to a

collective mass suicide? I don't think so.





Why Nations Fail is indeed a very depressing read here in Kinshasa...

Read More

Radio-Trottoir Feed: Fatwa against Nicolas Sarkozy in Kinshasa

Kinois were particularly happy to watch Nicolas Sarkozy flounder in

the marathon 3-hour presidential debate with contender François

Hollande on Wednesday night, May 2.



Congolese begrudge Sarkozy for suggesting on two occasions--in 2009

and in 2010--that the recipe for peace in the African Great Lakes

region would be that Congo share its natural resources with Rwanda!

For instance, at a press conference he held in Kigali on February 25,

2010, Sarkozy blurted:



"Anything that makes [Kabila and Kagame] talk to each other, gets them

organized, France supports it; but it's not up to France to tell them

how they'll make peace, what the best way of sharing resources will

be..."



Small wonder then that Kinois were glued to their TV sets last night

to root for François Hollande... and issue dire fatwas against

Sarkozy.

Read More

DRC: Lineup of New and Smaller Cabinet

The new government of the DRC was officially announced in a communiqué

from Kabila's chief of staff read on state-owned RTNC radio and TV

channel in the evening of Saturday, April 28.



Five observations right off the bat:



1) the new government is smaller than the previous one (36 vs. 46);



2) Prime Minister Augustin Matata Ponyo hoards his previous Finance

Ministry portfolio;



3) Lambert Mende Omalanga returns as Information Minister;



4) the injection of new blood in critical ministries; and



5) Six women feature in the new government as ministers and vice-ministers:



Here's the lineup of the new cabinet:



1. Daniel MUKOKO SAMBA, Deputy Prime Minister and Budget Minister;



2. Alexandre LUBA TAMBU, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense

and Veterans;



3. Raymond TSHIBANDA, Minister of Foreign Affairs, International and

Regional Cooperation, and Francophony;



4. Richard MUYEJ MANGEZ, Minister of the Interior, Security,

Decentralization, and Customary Affairs;



5. Ms. Wivine MUMBA MATIPA, Minister of Justice and Human Rights;



6. Lambert MENDE, Minister of Media, in charge of Relations with

Parliament, and Initiation to new citizenship;



7. Célestin VUNABANDI, Minister of Planning and Follow-up of

Implementation of Modernity Revolution;



8. Ms. Louise MUNGA, Portfolio Minister;



9. Jean-Paul NEMOYATO, Minister of Economy and Commerce;



10. Fridolin KASWESHI, Minister of Town and Country Planning and

Habitat, Infrastructures, Public Works, and Reconstruction;



11. Justin KALUMBA Mwana Ngongo, Minister of Transportation and Thoroughfares;



12. Bavon NSAMPUTU, Minister of Environment, Conservation of Nature,

and Tourism;



13. Martin KABWELULU, Mining Minister;



14. Bruno KAPANJI, Minister of Water Resources and Electricity;



15. Crispin ATAMA TABE, Oil Minister;



16. Remy MUSUNGAY, Minister of Industry, and Small and Medium-sized

Enterprises;



17. Tryphon KIN-KIEY MULUMBA, Minister of Postal Services,

Telecommunications, and New Information Technologies;



18. Modeste BAHATI, Minister of Employment, Labor, and Social Security;



19. Félix KABANGE Numbi, Public Health Minister;



20. TSHEBO LOTIMA, Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research;



21. Maker MWANGU, Minister of Primary, Secondary and Vocational Education;



22. Jean-Chrysostome WAMITI, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development;



23. Robert MBWINGA, Minister of Land Affairs;



24. Charles NAWEJ, Minister of Social Affairs, Humanitarian Action,

and National Solidarity;



25. Ms. Géneviève INAGOSI, Minister of Gender, Family and Child;



26. Jean-Claude KIBALA, Minister of Civil Service;



27. BANZA MUKALAY, Minister of Youth, Sports, Culture and Arts;



28. Patrice KITEBI, Minister Delegate to the Prime Minister, in charge

of Finances;



29. TUNDA Ya KASENDE, Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs;



30. Bismass Emile MANGBEGU SWANA, Vice-Minister of International and

Regional cooperation;



31. Egide NGOKOSO, Vice-Minister of Decentralization and Customary Affairs;



32. Ms. SAKINA BINTI, Vice-Minister of Human Rights;



33. Sadock BIGANZA, Vice-Minister of Planning;



34. Roger SHULUNGU, Vice-Minister of Finances;



35. Ms. ABUYUWE ISSA, Vice-Minister of Budget; and



36. Ms. Maguy RWAKABUBA, Vice-Minister of Primary, Secondary and

Vocational Education.

Read More