The record of President Tshisekedi, who succeeded Joseph Kabila in January 2019 after a controversial election, is “very bad, chaotic”said the former governor (2007-2015) of Katanga (south-east), mining region and economic lung of the huge country of central Africa.
(RE)read: In the DRC, Moïse Katumbi back from a very active exile
His side “Together for the Republic” had been part for two years of “The Sacred Union”, the presidential coalition. But for months, the signs of disenchantment were numerous with Félix Tshisekedi, who will himself be a candidate for his succession.
I have a vision for my country, I have to save a people in danger.
Moses Katumbi
“I said goodbye to the Sacred Union… We will continue with real fighters, who want us to change the situation of our country together, for a better Congo“, explains Moïse Katumbi.
“I am a candidate because I have a vision for my country (…), I have to save a people in danger”he declares, highlighting his record as governor and his “expertise” businessman who developed his fortune in the mining industry. The politician is also president of the prestigious football club of Lubumbashi, Tout Puissant (TP) Mazembe.
“I have a program, I will create jobs, I have the infrastructure to redo, there is tourism…”he explains. “We must also rebuild our army, the security in our country…”he continued, while eastern DRC has been plagued by violence from armed groups for nearly 30 years.
The region is experiencing a new peak in this chronic crisis, with the resurgence of the M23 rebellion (March 23 Movement), which has seized large swathes of territory in the province of North Kivu.
“Do not allow fraud”
The DRC also has gigantic mineral resources and millions of hectares of arable land but, according to the World Bank, more than 70% of its approximately 100 million inhabitants live on less than 1.90 dollars a day, a level set as the international poverty line.
In an interview with AFP last February, Moïse Katumbi presented his recipes for the DRC: developing agriculture, making good roads, educating young people and “break the mafias” who plague the country.
In April, he had drawn two red lines which would have pushed him to leave the presidential coalition: the examination by Parliament of a law excluding any Congolese born to a foreign parent – which is the case of Moïse Katumbi, Italian father – to apply for the presidency and the absence of a consensus around the designation of the members of the Independent National Electoral Commission (CENI).
(See again : DRC: “the congolity” of the candidates, a disputed idea
The Parliament did not include this law in its agenda, but the investiture of the members of the Ceni did not achieve consensus.
“People should remain vigilant” on election day, said Moïse Katumbi on December 16, “we will not allow fraud”.
The next presidential election is set for December 20, 2023. Among the other declared candidates is Martin Fayulu, an unsuccessful candidate for the December 2018 election.
In the DRC, the presidential election is a single-round election, the results of which are sometimes violently contested, as in 2006 and 2011, with dozens of deaths as a result.
For next year’s, experts have already expressed their doubts about a process which, according to them, has taken “a bad start” and again risks ending up in a contested election.