News

Observation deplorable

Embezzlement of public funds, corruption, kickbacks, leakage of revenue, flight and/or laundering of capital, so many scourges which are eating away at the DRC economy, polluting the business climate and giving rise to a negative perception of the DRC – Democratic Republic of Congo – seen from the outside.

Despite the efforts made by the President of the Republic, Félix Antoine Tshisekedi Tshilombo, with initiatives to create or revitalize state services to combat these scourges, they are tough to kill.

Faced with these disasters, these services are like barking dogs. Morning, noon and night, they shout out against these scourges, boasting, like illusion sellers, their prowess in tracking down financial delinquents, without, in reality, achieving the objective for which they were created or revitalized.

Indeed, according to some objective and informed analysts, the Head of State, Félix Antoine Tshisekedi Tshilombo, had created or revitalized these services, with the main aim of recovering all the money that escapes the public treasury each year through mafia practices. It will even be remembered that in his time, Professor Luzolo Bambi Lessa, then special advisor to the former Head of State in the fight against corruption and money laundering, had declared that each year, at least 15 billion US dollars escape the state coffers.

Consequences harmful

The resulting financial insecurity erodes confidence in institutions and hinders any economic progress. It is difficult, if not impossible, for donors and economic operators to invest in such an uncertain environment. It is also difficult to create jobs, to promote the creation of the middle class.

On the social and political level, hotbeds of tension are fueled by the impatience of a people desperate for an improvement in their living conditions. At any moment, there is fear that the profound social and political repercussions will spill out onto the streets, with all the risks of overflowing.

So many deleterious effects that impose urgency on the part of the supreme decision-maker to rectify the situation. Better late than never, they say.

THIEF, a new policeman!

What to do to stem the haemorrhage of embezzlement and corruption? It pleased the President of the Republic, Head of State, who, solely responsible to the people, deemed it necessary to create within the ANR -National Intelligence Agency-, a DIET -Department of Economic and Financial Intelligence-. The objective is to allow the active participation of this Department in achieving economic growth, for the integral development of the country.

According to the Presidential Ordinance creating it, which came into force on August 9, 2024, the date of its signature, DIEF is the fourth department created within the ANR -National Intelligence Agency.

Not one service too many

Reading between the lines of this Presidential Order, we understand that DIEF, although equipped with a central administration, is not a service in its own right. It is rather a new department, [le quatrième]within the ANR.

As if to say that the Head of State has entrusted, this time, to the ANR the mission of reinforcing economic and financial security.

Powers extended

From research, investigation, inquiry, collection, exploitation, interpretation, dissemination and monitoring of economic, financial, digital and technological information of interest to the security of the State both nationally and internationally, on the one hand, and, on the other, to research, facilitation, protection, implementation and support of investments in the DRC, through verification, counter-verification and management control of the use of public funds, as well as surveillance and policing of the energy, telecommunications, new information technologies and cyberspace sectors, the DIEF has not left in its assignments any operation likely to bring in big money to the public treasury.

The DIEF must poke its nose into any channel through which money going to the state coffers can pass. Its assignments have gone as far as certifying the identification of subscribers to telephone operators.

Rapport between the DIEF and the specialized services

The creation of the DIEF by the Head of State has provoked reactions of various kinds among public opinion.

In accordance with the Presidential Ordinance creating it, the DIEF is endowed with several powers that will allow it to have a broader scope of action. Which leads some to say that the DIEF is reducing the power and influence of the IGF – General Inspectorate of Finance – and other specialized services of the State in the fight against corruption.

They base their argument on what they call the blunders of the chief inspector of the IGF, cited in several mafia cases with Indo-Pakistanis and the Rawji group as well as the Gécamines affair.

A point of view not shared by other analysts, who believe, on the other hand, that the DIEF has rather come to support existing specialized services, in order to further strengthen economic and financial security in the DRC.

The expansion of the DIEF’s scope of action should therefore in no way be seen as stripping existing specialist services of all their substance. Which, in truth, will not be of any interest to it in achieving its assignments.

THIEF, a panacea?

Beyond any comment, debate or consideration, it should be noted that the President of the Republic, Félix Antoine Tshisekedi Tshilombo, created, within the ANR, a Department of Economic and Financial Intelligence, “to enable its active participation in the achievement of economic growth for the integral development of the country.”

All the DIEF assignments converge “to guarantee the vital interests of the Nation” long threatened by the scourges and other much-criticized practices.

Let us hope that with the advent of the DIEF within the ANR, state money will never again escape the public treasury.

/acturdc.com

Hurricane Ernesto strengthened to a Category 2 storm with maximum sustained winds of 100 mph (155 kph) as it headed toward Bermuda, threatening it with high winds, dangerous storm surge and flooding.

The National Hurricane Center (NHC), based in Miami, reported in its recent bulletin that Ernesto, which caused severe flooding and power outages in Puerto Rico, will reach Bermuda on Saturday, August 17.

The cyclone, a Category 2 on the Saffir-Simpson scale out of a total of 5, is located 415 kilometers (255 miles) south-southwest of Bermuda, which is under a hurricane warning.

Ernesto is moving toward the north-northeast near 13 mph (20 kph) on Friday. A faster northeastward motion is expected later this weekend.

On the forecast track, the center of Ernesto, which is expected to be a “major hurricane,” is expected to pass near or over Bermuda on Saturday, the 17th.

The NHC warned that a dangerous storm surge is expected to produce significant coastal flooding in Bermuda, accompanied by large and destructive waves.

These storm surges will reach the U.S. East Coast over the weekend. The resulting dangerous surf and rip currents will be life-threatening, the NHC said.

This is the third hurricane of the Atlantic basin hurricane season, which began on June 1 and has produced five tropical storms: Alberto, Beryl, Chris, Debby and Ernesto.

Puerto Rico hopes to restore electricity service

This was stated on Friday, August 16, at a press conference by the president of LUMA Energy, Juan Saca, who stated that “the estimated time of global restoration,” after the passage between the night of last Tuesday the 14th and Wednesday the 15th of the then tropical storm Ernesto, is “conservatively, for Sunday the 18th in the morning.”

At the moment, and according to data published by LUMA on its website, at 12:15 (16:15 GMT), electricity service has been restored to 83% of its subscribers. 249,090 customers remain without electricity.

According to the statement, in about 36 hours they have restored service to some 500,000 subscribers of the more than 750,000 who were left in the dark last Wednesday, August 14.

“Our crews are working hard under difficult conditions to restore service and make critical repairs as quickly and safely as possible, especially in San Juan and Caguas and on the islands of Vieques and Culebra,” Saca said.

The president of LUMA explained that these areas suffered the greatest impacts during the passage of the storm.

According to Saca, the company’s technicians are expected to be able to restore 90% of the service by the evening of Friday 16th.

He indicated that Fallen trees, damaged insulators and Ernesto’s winds were the main causes of the power outage.

Saca, on the other hand, regretted a power outage on the night of Thursday 15th that affected some 70 thousand customers in the eastern part of the island due to a fallen cable on a transmission line.

Another 4,500 customers were also affected last night by a fire in the control cabinet of a switch at the Cerámica Substation in Carolina during the energization process.

“We are working on both incidents, which will be resolved today,” he said.

One of the many clients that still remains without electricity is the Municipal Hospital of Cayey (center), where the Integrated Cancer Medical Center of Puerto Rico operates, but which is currently working with an electric generator.

“We call on the regional management of LUMA Energy to urgently pay attention to the energization of this facility that not only serves the city of Cayey, but also neighboring towns,” said Cayey Mayor Rolando Ortiz in a statement.

For her part, Secretary of the Interior Noelia García told a radio station that LUMA Energy is seeking to recruit some 125 electrical technicians from the city of Orlando, Florida (USA) to help restore and reinforce the energy system.

This has generated some criticism for not prioritising local talent and seeking to recruit staff from outside the island.

In addition, Saca told the newspaper El Nuevo Día that LUMA needs an additional US$200 million through a tariff review.