By Pedro Lwanga, Independent Analyst
With its discriminatory, segregationist media release, has the Licoco been given the mission of discrediting the Commission instituted by the Head of State?
Congolese – moreover organizers of an NGO for the defense of human rights – who qualify Congolese as “black Chinese”: this is where the Final Report of the Igf on Sicomines leads! Worse, this NGO specializing in the fight against corruption presents itself as being part of the Commission initiated, however, in good faith by President Félix Tshisekedi, determined to hear all the bells ringing, that is to say those of the for, against and neutrals, a question of getting a clear idea of what is happening around the Sino-Congolese or Sicomines contract affair before, of course, making an informed decision…
In its press release dated April 3, 2023, Licoco “alerts on the presence in the preparatory work for the revision of the Chinese Contract, of people clearly committed to the Chinese cause, without a doubt, at the cost of greenbacks, to torpedo the efforts of the DRC to sign an amendment to the SICOMINES convention, as desired by His Excellency the President of the Republic, Head of State”.
She notes that “For a week, the preparatory work bringing together several state structures under the chairmanship of the Chief of Staff of the Head of State, started with the aim of adopting a roadmap for negotiations with Chinese companies. The LICOCO which takes part in it observes with indignation the attempts of some ill-intentioned people who are part of this working group who seek to discredit the highly appreciable report of the General Inspectorate of Finance, thus sailing against the decision of the Chief of the state and the will of the Congolese people. These people seek to delay the revision desired by all Congolese by delaying maneuvers such as requesting another technical audit of the SICOMINES Convention”!
Thus, it appears to be both judge and party with the primary consequence of depriving itself of the credibility that the Commission needs to function better.
Worse for her, better for public opinion, she reveals to the attention of the national and international community that she is not alone in this commission to share the same opinion. Indeed, she affirms that “The LICOCO as well as the other organizations of the Civil Society Guardians of the interests of the DRC, warn these ‘black Chinese’ and keep an eye on them”. She maintains “to hold all the information on these people qualified as ‘black Chinese'” and “promises not to hesitate to make public the identities of these enemies of the Republic if the latter do not give up their macabre plan and their desire to ‘rapid enrichment on the back of the Congolese people’.
Consequence: Licoco presents the Commission not as an initiative in search of the truth about the Sino-Congolese contract, but as a structure set up to sink Sicomines!
WHY AND FOR WHOM!
In addition to engaging in discrimination and segregation, in addition to accusing them of corruption, it goes so far as to make physical threats against the Congolese, whom it moreover prohibits from exercising their democratic rights, in in this case those of expression and opinion guaranteed by the Constitution.
How can an organization claiming to be serious and sitting on a committee called to be serious engage in such abuses so ostensibly?
Since she identifies “black Chinese” in this commission, should we deduce, in response from the shepherd to the shepherdess, that she is part of the “black Westerners”?
While we’re at it, the reference to greenbacks (dollars) normally applies to whom? Is it to the “black Chinese” supposed to be served in yen or to the “black Westerners” served in dollars!
It is here that the invitation of Senator Prince Kaumba in his motion of April 1st in the Senate takes on its full meaning: “Let us not transpose on our territory conflicts of interest that do not concern us”.
Otherwise, an NGO considering itself credible cannot object to another technical audit of the Sicomines Convention, which contains in its provisions Article 20 which provides, for the settlement of any dispute, either an amicable solution, or international arbitration! Both imperatively require a contradictory audit.
This is where the chinophobia that feeds compatriots who, since 1990, have fully played the card of the weakening of public institutions in favor of external powers that continue to weaken the Congo in all forums, leads. The security situation in the East is proof of this.
First to contest the electoral victory of Félix Tshisekedi in 2018, they have not succeeded in advocating for the regime in place to bring or bring back to the country over the past 4 years a single investor. They cannot stop presenting the DRC as a corruptible country overnight.
The Igf report on Sicomines having allowed them to bounce back, here they are in the process of trapping the commission on which the President of the Republic is nevertheless counting to inform himself through the contradictory debate…
The same question comes up: why, and for whose benefit!
The post [Tribune de Pedro Lwanga] DRC: Sino-Congolese contract Did you say “Black Chinese”? What if we said “Black Westerners? » appeared first on CAS-INFO.