Country’s Challenges when Facing War: A Test for the DRC Prime Minister: Judith Suminwa Tuluka

Hailing from Bas-Congo province, this lady was like a hair in the soup and due to lack of visibility, no one could have imagined it in his wildest dreams that a woman would be appointed as the Prime Minister in the Congolese cabinet one day. H.E. Mr Antoine Tshisekedi Tshilombo, President of the Republic of Congo did recognize that the DRC’s institutions are led by men, and it gives the impression of being a protected garden for male gender alone. With this assertiveness, the Head of State appointed Mrs Judith Suminwa Tuluka, the Prime Minister of the DRC – a first! The order of her appointment was read on April 1, 2024; the reflex helped the imaginative thinking of April Fool’s Day. Spirituality energies guided the appointment star so that it lines perfectly with this date; even mythology could not change the course of events. Suminwa Tuluka is the first ever politician from Bas-Congo to be elevated to such a higher position.

With a dwindled visibility and unknown to the general public until her appointment, the very public was unaware that behind this blind visibility, the recipient was already roaming the world politico-economic microcosm, and the DRC’s in particular. Fate wanted her to rub shoulders with United Nations specialized institutions such as UNDP before bridging the gap of opposing environments to land in the private sector at Citibank. Mrs Tuluka’s keen sense allowed her to excel in planning and coordinating multi-sectoral programs including the famous 145-territory Program that bears her pencil drawn sketches in its architecture. She lent her expertise to the Ministry of Planning where she fulfilled her duties as the Minister in the government led by her predecessor Sam Lukonde Kyenge. Tuluka embrassed her career humble beginnings in politics as deputy coordinator of the Presidential Council for Strategic Monitoring (CPVS), within the office of the Ministry of Budget. A ULB graduate in Belgium, her Master’s degree in Applied Economics was the perfect fit that pleased His Excellency President Félix Antoine Tshisekedi to entrust her with the prime minister’s office. The hardness and enormity of the task were not so daunting for the newly promoted Suminwa, as long as she knew the ills that gnaw at the republican bread and basket fully.

The economic slump in a context of exchange rate fluctuations that exacerbate inflation, the Prime Minister is aware of the challenges that the population has always faced on a daily basis. Faced with a double controversy either  the economy shall be adjusted cyclically and/or structurally, the Prime Minister is not in the rush that leads to hasty responses without applied due diligence. She agrees that cyclical adjustments would help to curb as much as possible deficiencies and crisis in certain sectors in the short term. In the medium and long term, she believes that structural adjustments with the support of Bretton Wood institutions (true in both cases) will be dealt with in an intelligible manner. The solutions to the problems of investment and development will be better identified in a serious macroeconomic framework.

Well informed of the reaction from the people she is called upon to serve, Mrs Suminwa Tuluka is not fooled; she knows that these adjustments must be supported by strong national programs on which international aid (which is not always financial) would rely. It is obvious that the DRC will not develop by counting on international aid to financially fuel the treasury.

In the midst of war which is currently rampant in the Eastern of  the DRC since January 2025, some adjustments must take place to increase the military, diplomatic and economic pressure on the invader. The attention shift has thus changed course to focus only on the war, forcing institutions budget cuts directed to the war effort. These are pleasant sacrifices that need to be carried out. Hopefully the country will get used to it in the perspective of routing Rwandan forces and their eviction beyond the national borders. Madam Prime Minister had understood the dynamics behind such an entrepreneurship; her involvement alongside the Head of State in peace processes around the world for the DRC cause is palpably felt. Her recent participation in the last summit -EAC-SADC in Dar-es-Salaam, to represent the President of the Republic was blackened by the handshake that the Prime Minister had granted to the Rwandan President, Paul Kagame. However, the elementary rules of protocol courtesy must and will remain in force to be abide by.

The Congolese emotional aspect in view of more than 4,000 Congolese killed during the illegal entry by Rwandan troops, had taken precedence over reason. Congolese concerns that Madam Prime Minister will take into account seriously  as they are the result from irascible thought of seeing their compatriots dead.

Already in her fifties, the Prime Minister has joined the list of few women who will have been at the heights of power. In this category of Ladies Prime Ministers, Edith Cresson; the nonagenarian was appointed Prime Minister by François Mitterrand as Prime Minister of France in 1991. Italy has the whirling Giorgi Meloni as Prime Minister and Mette Frederiksen is Prime Minister of Denmark, and the list goes on. This is not a case of sudden happenstance on the part of the President of the Republic. Beyond what exists in these women with subliminal talent, it is Judith Suminwa’s knowledge of political and social circles, her proven experience and her willingness to support the country and the Head of State that have pleaded her case to be the Conductor of the Government train. Even in times of war, Madam Prime Minister, calls are generating fears that the situation is going from bad to worse. Whatever the case may be, it is essential that the economy is not bled dry!