What We Know about the DRC’s Cabinet Split

Farida Adamu, August 1, 2019

In the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Former Justice Minister Alexis Thambwe Mwamba has won the election for the country’s Senate Presidency. Rumoured to be the favourite candidate of former President Kabila, he won the parliament’s highest seat through a secret ballot with a score of 65 votes to 43 against his opponent, Modeste Bahati Lukwebo.

Why this matters

This comes a few days after Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi and Joseph Kabila, his predecessor, reached an agreement to divide the main security and economic cabinet posts evenly between their two parties; Kabila’s FCC and Tshisekedi’s CACH. The duo announced this agreement after six months of negotiations over the formation of a new government.

Kabila continues to rule through Tshikedi

Even after been barred by constitutional term limits from standing in the December 30 election, following his 30-year stint as president, Kabila was actively involved in choosing who Congo’s next leader will be. He still maintains significant influence over state institutions and demanded that most of the high-profile ministries in Democratic Republic of Congo’s parliament be held by the FCC, his coalition.

Tshisekedi also named Sylvestre Ilunga, an ally of Kabila, as prime minister in May. The two sides have now formed a coalition in parliament and announced via twitter that The FCC would control the ministries of Defence, Finance, Justice as well as the Ministry of the Public Portfolio while CACH will control the ministries of Interior, Foreign Affairs, Budget and Economy.

According to Jean-Baudouin Mayo, one of Tshisekedi’s negotiators, the new government will have 65 members –42 from Kabila’s camp and 23 from Tshisekedi’s.

Business as usual

Now that a power-sharing deal has been established and Kabila continues to spin the wheel from behind the scenes, controlling a large part of DRC’s political system, it is expected that the country will continue to run as usual. This means it will most likely still be characterised by issues like human rights repression and abuse of freedom of the press.

What would have been a step forward in the DRC’s democracy is looking to be many steps backwards.

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