FATSHI Shines With No Communication, CENI So Hard-pressed

The master key words that the Sphinx of Limete-Lider Maximo, Dr Etienne Tshisekedi wa Mulumba, had pronounced during plenary sessions of the Sovereign National Conference at the beginning of the 90s, were “Change of Mentalities” while submitting his candidature for the post of Prime Minister; position to which he had been elected by an overwhelming majority, demystifying fetishistic practices by his direct competitor Kanku, designated candidate from  President Mobutu political family and his presidential constituency(mouvance). To date, this change in mentality is perched on the peaks of Nyiragongo, with no imminent possibility of reaching their snow-capped heights.

Etienne Tshisekedi endured unbearable hardships; beaten, imprisoned, excommunicated, relegated, repatriated, sacrifices of all kinds were just too much; all in the name of the fatherland and the people of RDC. Such sufferings were not in vain because, soon after his death, his son Felix Antoine Tshisekedi Tshilombo was elected the new President of the Democratic Republic of Congo, more than two decades later following the Sovereign National Conference, punctuated by  wars, assassinations and Agreements of Lusaka, Sun City and Pretoria I and II. Undoubtedly, these December 2018 elections will have been the very first bloodless change of power since Congo’s independence in 1960. For a long time coups d’état were the modus operandi for ascending to the supreme office. In the aftermath of these Alternation or Alternative elections, there was total cacophony; statu quo backers who advocated for the system of governance with a change of the president of the republic in an alternative way which had surprised the newcomers among CASH, animated by the concern of alternation. CASH and FCC grappled at the Republic altar before entering into an “I love you, neither do I” coalition built on poisonous political tensions. The “you are going to swim from CASH” and “we are not going to be intimidated as FCC” slogans, polarized the deleterious nauseating political climate of governance, before the new President declared in London, the collapse of the Kabila system. This was the motive for “Sarajevo” (world word I).

Félix Antoine Tshisekedi is far from being a President who would enjoy living in opulence with his family while most Congolese grumble on a daily basis in dire poverty. This is what justifies his modest life in this little house he shares with his wife and offspring, less than 5 rooms in la Cité de Union Africaine (City of the African Union). He did not confiscate the Marble Palace and make it the Presidential Palace like Mzee Laurent Kabila, in the heart of Macampagne posh suburb, nor did he build a sumptuous palace on a space of more than 15000m2 , with building design by French architect Olivier Clement Cacoub in Kawele in the Gbadolite sector for Mobutu. The man who vowed by the  “People First”, did not acquire huge parks like Kingakati and Kashamata, after coming to power poor although he did not experience harsh poverty; he has a taste for “déjà vu” with regard to certain luxuries that many find insolently amazing. It is just about how great Felix Antoine Tshisekedi is.

The safeguarding of an extremely important achievement of having hosted elections on the Republic’s own funds, by the genius of Joseph Kabila Kabange, was on the brink of collapse. The Westerners having failed to bring Martin Fayulu, their candidate, into power, threw banana peels at Felix Antoine Tshisekedi and proclaimed his illegitimacy. This made Lamuka happy, considering that they had not accepted the fact that Felix withdrew from Geneva Agreement to make Fayulu the sole candidate from the opposition, following the wake-up call shouted from the UDPS base in Congo, which ended up reaching his eardrums. Insults and threats fueled everywhere to such an extent that the management of the country by these two blocs embodied by the Prime Minister, Ilunga Ilunkamba from FCC, had been abandoned in favour of positioning.

Puppet and placebo being bone chilling abusive qualifying adjectives uttered against the President of the Republic days after days by Fayulu and his camp, fished out the unhealthy remarks by PPRD youth with Henri Magie (imprisoned in Makala), before culminating in a deafening loquacity around the “truth of the ballot box-vérité des urnes” and in laboratories specializing in inventiveness on behalf of FCC in order to destroy and sink the power in place. No one was immune therefrom, including Evangelical Pastor Mukuna, who had just changed his partisan beliefs, spinning like a cheetah. The dismal demonstration of such imbroglios was the wickedness fortuitously engaged by the Speaker of the Lower House of Parliament, Mabunda. From her high perched chair, she lamented the exorbitant price and cramped nature of a baguette she had been showing off in plenary since the advent of CASH. Mabunda was blinded by revengeful angers against the President, without realizing that the Prime Minister, the Ministry of Finance and the Central Bank Bank Govenor seat were all held by FCC members; that they were in the best position to initiate an investigation into the causes of the high cost of bread products as well as the related tariff fluctuations. These prides accompanied by haughty manners and reckless pretensions castigated the deceptive FCC’s attitudes, full of arrogance. Vital Kamerhe, the head of the UNC-Union National Union for Congolese, the UDPS’s main ally in CASH, paid the dearest price with his boastful deceptions which characterized his “Beau-vivre” acumen and by extension his nephew Massaro. An orchestration perfectly staged by the former Minister of Justice Tunda Ya Kasenda in order to land in the shoes of FATSHI that the FCC wanted to overthrow; VK was deceitful.

Time for many quiproquo to be thus invited at the level of constitution applicability, in the exercise of power by Félix Antoine Tshisekedi Tshilombo. No Congolese President has ever been intentionally prosecuted for having violated the constitution like Fatshi, since he reshuffled the army commandment and the judiciary, as well as the appointment of judges at the level of the Constitutional Court. FATSHI Béton was still waiting to be summoned by the Council of State to respond to these grievances. Nay! Criminalally, the President of the Republic responds to his natural judge at the Constitutional Court, not for administrative ordinances he enacts, in which case he answers to the Council of State. As ridicule is not belittling somehow, it was pure awkwardness when Fayulu, yesterday against the Constitutional Court which had rendered the verdict confirming the 2018 elections results with Félix Antoine Tshisekedi as President, joined FCC and demanded the President’s resignation for having illegally appointed the Constitutional Court judges. For Professor Nyabirungu Mwene Songa, in total, 8 articles of the constitution were violated by these ordinances, in particular, articles 1, 12, 79 paragraph 4, article 82, 91, 150, 152 and 158. Théodore Ngoy had lent a strong hand to Fayulu in his turpitudes by pressing the constitutional violation button harder. Kabund having already been dismissed as 1st vice-president of the Bureau of the National Assembly, by a motion initiated in a devilish manner known to everyone, by the Honorable Member of the Parliament Jacques Mamba from MLC, FCC mistakenly thought to have had Fatshi Béton head on a golden plate. The Prime Minister’s refusal to set up the swearing-in by the new judges sealed the fate of the coalition in a six (6) minute speech of happy memory. The Chef is back! Magister Dixit!

For a long time, Kabila’s followers and believers had so underestimated the President of the Republic and his ability to understand political issues that they wielded pawns as they pleased, without realizing the ambush he had set up for them. Refusing the radical opposition led by his dear Papa, the son is a follower of a pragmatic opposition. While the kabilie amused in vain and hollow attacks, Fatshi proceeded with a thorough infiltration and attacked, with his group of experts, FCC foundations. It was within the backbone of this platform that the President of the Republic had identified kabila’s regime weaknesses which allowed their destruction, especially in the army and at the level of the intelligence. FCC noticed the damage at their expense while the dice were already played; Felix had beaten them at their own game. The changeover in the Parliament’s Lower House with an unprecedented majority by the advent of the Sacred Union, sounded the death knell for the decline of powerful decision-makers within FCC.

Astonishingly, efforts by the President of the Republic to bring the country back to the surface level and bridge the sinkhole in which it had been driven for 52 years, are demised everywhere; free education initiatives, which have enabled thousands of families to send their children to school and promote societal literacy, despite the logistical problems thus identified; improvements in the living conditions of soldiers whose numbers at the warfronts are pompously inflated for the purpose of embezzling their pay, military rations and equipment; the fall in the prices of food products to increase the quantity in the breadbasket; the fight against illegal exemptions and illegal private ports; the massive illegal enrichments that IGF fights day by day; financial mismanagement,  nlet alone slumps inherent in the Covid-19 pandemic, are all gaping wounds from which the Republic suffers and which must be healed. Fortuitous criticisms and accusations against the President cannot be answered by the communicational trilogy in the Presidency. Acceptance of any untimely and tough interventions to defend the Head of the State’s actions shall be allowed. The presidential press has an obligation to reject outright false allegations that the President is involved in the process of appointing the new president of the CENI, by stating the language and geopolitical space as the engines of his motivation by his slayers and critics, including the bill by Noël Tshiani, brought to the National Assembly by the Honorable Member of the Parliament Pitshou Nsingi Pululu.

Advocate Symphorien Mpoyi-Tukome drew up a synoptic table of  CENI’s leaders, their religious denominations, their linguistic spaces and the length of their respective mandates, as follows:

No	Names	Religious Denomination	Linguistic Space	Term in CENI Office
01	Priest MALU MALU MUHOLONGO Appolinaire	CENCO C.E.I.	Swahili speaking	2003 – 2010 (7 years)
02	Past. NGOYI MULUNDA Daniel	ECC CENI	Swahili speaking	2010 – 2013 (3 years)
03	Priest MALU MALU MUHOLONGO Appolinaire	CENCO CENI	Swahili speaking	2013 – 2016 (3 years)
04	Corneille NAANGA YOBELUO	ECC CENI	Swahili speaking	2016 – 2021 (5 years)

By way of observations, Adv. Symphorien noted that despite investigations related to the respect of geopolitics on the appointment of candidate for the position of CENI chairmanship, CENCO (catholic episcopal conference) and ECC (Protestant Church of Christ in DRC) have already been served in relation to the above. It is entirely preferable that these religious denominations withdraw from the race to leave space for other denominations, such as, in this case, the Kimbanguists and the Muslims to freely choose their candidate who will have to be endowed by the National Assembly so that ‘in the end, principles of fairness and equality are observed upon, as by Lawyer Mpoyi Tukome Symphorien conclusion.

The appointment by the President of the Republic of the New DR Congo Central Bank Governor fuelled the fire. A Kasai woman whose professionalism and her highly self-speaking skills and credentials cannot be doubted in view of her multiple exploits at the IMF level, was raised to this position to comply with this affirmative action which promotes women empowerment and emancipation, though everyone is equal as per law. Madame Mbuyi Kabedi Malangu replaced Mutomb as head of the Congolese note-issuing baking authority. The President needs such high profiled individuals to drive his vision by 2023 and beyond. A succinctly hastily concocted summary displays the silence that has surrounded appointments of certain officials of the Katangese and Swahili-speaking areas without any claim relating to their provincial and linguistic geopolitics.

1. Joseph Kabila Kabange       :           President of the Republic (Katanga)

2. Lwamba Bintu                     :           President Supreme Court of Justice (Katanga)

3. Kabange Numbi                  :           National Prosecuting Authority-PGR (Katanga)

4. Mbala Musense                   :           Chief of Staff General-CFMG (Katanga)

5. Numbi Ntambo                   :           FARDC Inspector (Katanga)

6. Kasongo Sylvano                 :           Police General Commissioner – PNC (Katanga)

7. Kabwe Lulu                         :           Minister of Mines (Katanga)

8. Mutomb                              :           Governor Central Bank (Katanga)

9. Kabila Ernest                       :           CEO RTNC (Katanga)

10. Kayombo                           :           CEO Snel (Katanga)

11. Kalev                                 :           Intelligence Boss -ANR (Katanga)

12. Muyej                                :           Minister of the Interior (Katanga)

13. Kabange Numbi                :           Minister of Health (Katanga)

14. Muland Yav                      :           Minister of Finance (Katanga)

15. NGoyi Mulunda                :           CENI President (Katanga)

While this happened in the Democratic Republic of Congo! Where is the common sense, when crying foul?

Since “Lubality” becomes an exclusion criterion for the management of public affairs, the country is in danger. It is inconceivable that some tribes have exercised full powers without any admonition being dared against these partisan, especially ethnic and tribal compositions. A cathedral silence has always been reserved therein. Persecutions that Lubas-kasai have suffered repeatedly in Katanga and Shaba have never been of any objection from other tribes. The Mobutu regime had become master in this field of clans, in hunting down the Lubas in the army, falsely accused of having plotted a coup against him, he revised his decision and re-appointed a handful of the Lubas to lead institutions and in his office, some as Presidential Chief of Staff. Such dangerousness could lead to explosion as long as these persecuted people are still left to care for their own fate and survival, and the conflagration cannot be contained, as long as flaming fires would erupt from everywhere. President Félix Antoine Tshisekedi cannot resign himself to neglecting skilled candidates and individuals because they hail from the same tribe and province as him. How can someone be held liable for facts over which he has no control whatsoever? No one has chosen to be born muluba, mongo, gbandi, tetela, kusu, tchokwé, songué, etc…

Paul Nsapu and Denis Kadima, CENI presidential candidates, have wrongly become the victims of negatively maintained human thought in the DRC in the most discriminatory way possible. Their belonging to the Luba geopolitical space is a calamity erected as a handicap, a parameter of non-compliance with the eligibility criteria. The provincial and linguistic connections attributed to them are by no means non-experienced trivial facts. Like most decision-makers within these religious denominations, called upon to act out of loyalty to DRC institutions, patriotism and professionalism in this appointment process, the facts are stubbornly enriched that tribe-ethnic and provincial affiliations are the results of massive displacement, sedentary lifestyle as well as civilizational transhumance. These experts are full of proven skills to help DRC, and they are very available to provide the Republic with their oversizing international knowledge, each in the field of relevance and in which his expertise prevails.

Openings are thus here as great opportunities for intervention by the teams in charge of the President image, as an institution, to germinate strategies that would help with enlightening people and embellish the image of the leader and make his actions felt in a good communication. At the Palais de la Nation Presidential communication is far from being flawless, whereas there are people who fulfill duties of a spokesperson, Communication and the Press. Thierry Pfister, Pierre Mauroy’s former adviser at Matignon wrote: “to do politics is to communicate”. “To govern is to communicate”. At the Palais de la Nation, communication has faltered. This is first and foremost a strategy of mutual seduction between Fatshi Béton and public opinion. Political communication must be paradoxical in that it imposes its word through the surprise nuance. To have an impact on public opinion, interventions by members of the presidential press must for the most part be systematically targeted on a specific point of the political action carried out in order to make it concrete in its effects in the eyes of the government and people. Political action, more than pedagogy, generally needs to be pragmatized and sequenced.

The President of the Republic Félix Antoine Tshisekedi Tshilombo needs seasoned people in the press and in presidential communication to reassure, since he has already announced his candidacy for the next presidential election. Political communication is strategic because it engages not only the perception of the policy carried out, but also the future of the President personality presented on the local or national and international chessboard. In the era of continuous news channels, youtubisation and instantaneous dissemination of information, a representative from the president’s press or communication teams must participate in media broadcasts in order to talk about all the actions led by the Head of State, and work on his notoriety and visibility. For this, it will be necessary to set up a presidential political media plan based on a framework whose robustness leaves nothing to chance. Amagep will hold its score, and will ensure as far as possible that the support it gives to the President of the Republic actions and Government is as visible as possible. It is in Eureka Afrika Magazine, to be released soon, whereby Amagep would paint, from various perspectives, a physiognomy of the policy pursued by Fatshi Béton towards the improvement of Congolese social life. Its (Eureka Afrika Magazine) ambitions enjoy an all-out reality that does not suffer from any hiccups that would harm the hopes of this Congolese nation to which the Congolese people aspire, however bold and hasty they may be. Thus, in the face of a growing and formidable cynicism, efforts harshness to renew the Congolese people confidence is demonstrative evidence of the Head of State actions accompaniment, to avoid him a communicational rupture in the yardstick of challenges standardization for the emergence and maintaining the “Béton” waterproofing.