Editor TLN
Dec. 29 (EUROPA PRESS) –
Three ministers from the Democratic Republic of the Congo have left the government of the country on Wednesday to join the candidacy of the prominent Congolese politician Moise Katumbi, who announced in mid-December his intention to face the current president, Félix Tshisekedi, in the 2023 presidential elections. .
Specifically, the Minister of Transport, Chérubin Okende; the Minister of Planning, Christian Mwando; as well as the Vice Minister of Health, Véronique Kilumba; They have transferred to the Congolese president their decision to leave the Executive.
“The head of state, Félix Tshisekedi, has met with five government ministers, members of the Juntos Party, to consult their loyalty and their commitment to his political line and his vision, (all of this) in the presence of the prime minister (Jean- Michel Sama Lukonde)”, read a statement shared by the country’s Presidency.
“Three of them, namely Christian Mwando, Chérubin Okende and Véronique Kilumba, have resigned to remain consistent with their political commitment,” the note continued, posted on the social network Twitter.
However, the Deputy Prime Minister in charge of Foreign Affairs, Christophe Lutundula; the Minister of Higher and University Education, Muhindo Nzangi Butondo and the Minister of Social Affairs, Modeste Mutinga Mutushayi, have reiterated their loyalty to the current Executive.
Moise Katumbi has kept a scrupulous silence since his return to the country in 2019, after more than three years of exile in Europe, precisely after the government of the current president revoked a conviction against him for corruption.
In an interview with Radio France Internationale and France24, Katumbi announced that he was saying goodbye to the “Sacred Union”, the coalition led by the Congolese president, to present a candidacy as leader of the Together for the Republic party.
“I am a candidate because the situation in Congo is chaotic and because I have to save a people in danger,” Katumbi declared in the midst of the diplomatic conflict between Congo and Rwanda, a precarious ceasefire between the military and rebels and North Kivu, and the rampant violence in other parts of the country.
Around a quarter of the population, which represents 26.4 million people, could need humanitarian aid in 2023 due to the deepening of the numerous crises that are shaking the African country, according to an alert at the beginning of the month by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
