Vital Kamerhe and Congo’s political opposition visits Washington – By Hank Cohen
A delegation of the leading opposition political leaders in the Democratic Republic of the Congo visited Washington, DC during the period March 7-11, 2015. The delegation leader and spokes-person was Vital Kamerhe, former President of the National Assembly and leader of the RNC party.
Other members of the delegation included Samy Badibanga Ntita, President of the UDPS parliamentary group, the largest opposition group in the parliament; Jean-Claude Vuemba Luzamba, the most important political leader in the Lower Congo region; Jean-Lucien Bussa Tongba, President of the CDR party; and Josi Makila, former Governor of Equateur Province.
The delegation met with senior officials in the State Department’s Bureau of African Affairs. They made presentations to the Africa Center of the Atlantic Council of the United States, and the Africa Department of the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. They also met with staffs of the Senate and House of Representatives committees on Africa.
The delegation’s message was that despite some recent positive developments in the electoral process, they continue to believe that the Kabila administration is determined to prolong its hold over power for an indefinite period beyond constitutional limits.
As for the positive news, the delegation cited the following:
- The Kabila group has decided to refrain from an effort to change the constitution in order to eliminate the two-mandate limitation for the President, thereby allowing President Kabila to run for a third term. The popular uprising in Burkina Faso in October 2014 that prevented President Blaise Compaoré from changing the constitution was cited as a precedent for the Kabila regime’s decision to drop the idea of changing the DRC constitution.
- An effort by the Kabila administration to enact legislation requiring a national census prior to any new elections was rejected by both houses of parliament. A national census would have delayed the presidential election for a minimum of five more years.
Despite this positive news, the delegation insisted that the international community should continue to apply pressure to the Congolese Government to make sure that the next presidential election will be held on time, and in a transparent manner. They claim that the regime continues to plan for a long delay.
The National Electoral Commission (CENI) has published a national election calendar that envisages a presidential election on November 27, 2016. The opposition, however, argues that the election calendar is configured in such a way that will guarantee long delays. Indeed, they claim that the published calendar cannot be implemented.
First, the scheduling of local and municipal elections in 2015 is such a logistical nightmare that all other elections will be delayed for many years as a result.
Secondly, new election registration cards for young people reaching the age of 18 have not been issued since 2006. For that reason, ten million young people will not be able to vote. Any election with so many voters being ineligible is unfair by definition.
What the opposition proposes is to have provincial elections in 2015. These are easy to do because the persons elected to the provincial parliaments will select the new governor and new senators. This would pave the way for a presidential election in November 2016 and local elections in 2017.
The opposition leaders also reported that the electoral commission has established a budget for all elections at the level of 1.5 billion dollars. They argue that the international community will never provide such a large amount of money. They point out that all of the elections in 2011 had only a total budget of $480 million. The high budget estimate is designed to delay the elections, they argue.
The opposition also pointed out that over 30 political personalities are in prison merely for expressing opposition in public, and that demonstrators protesting the census proposal in December 2014 were subjected to lethal fire by security forces, with at least 26 killed.
The opposition request is that the international community should continue to pressure the Kabila regime to have transparent elections within the constitutional time-frame.
The opposition leaders also insisted that the different factions of the opposition are now united and will not allow the regime to win by dividing the opposition.
The State Department officials who met with the delegation pledged to continue to support adherence to the constitution, and a free, fair and transparent election within the constitutional time frame. They also said that a “Special Representative for the Great Lakes Region” will be nominated to replace the departing Senator Russ Feingold.
There was no indication during the visit as to which politician will be the unified opposition choice to stand for the presidency against a politician supported by the Kabila regime. While Vital Kamerhe was the delegation leader, in all meetings he allowed all of his colleagues to speak as co-equals. There was no indication that he is the opposition choice to run for President as of this time.
Herman J. “˜Hank’ Cohen is Former Assistant Secretary of State for Africa.
DRC Constitution Legal Rule of Law Process Must Be An Absolute
Constitutional Legal Rule of Law Process in the Absence of Constitution Respect for Rule of Law Process Power in this possible future potential DRC Constitutional Interregnum if President Kabila elects not to respect the existent DRC Constitution limiting his time in office.
At present in DRC it remains unclear what has replaced this suborned/suspended DRC Parliament sanctioned Constitution embedding respect for Rule of Law Process now suborned by self-centred partisan ‘political fiat’ as DRC’s foundational legal instrument. The present DRC roiling civic political social situation is an example of ‘constitutional interregnum’, where political authority is exercised in the apparent absence of any respect, regard and adherence to formal constitutional foundation in respecting political authority subject to rule of law process. I am most concerned as to this constitutional interregnum, how the rule of law process gap left by the suspension of a constitution during a period of constitutional replacement is to be filled. The suggestion is advanced that even without a formal written constitution, a governing body’s authority and the lawfulness of its conduct depends on adherence to ‘supra-constitutional’ principles derived from the commitment to constitutional democracy itself. Because a democratic constitution claims to speak for the whole people, the law in force during the constitutional interregnum and which governs the drafting of any constitution must, at least, treat all and each of the people as equals and affirm a democratic right to representation in the drafting process. Any meaningful claim to be exercising authority in the name of the people – a claim to the authority of popular sovereignty – implies a commitment to a set of principles capable of constraining and directing the groups or individuals who exercise authority. These principles provide a constitutional foundation for government and for the legal system during the interregnum, ensuring both a benchmark for lawful government and legal continuity.
The only body to control, appreciate and sanction the political processes in the DRC are its people in the country. If the opposing politicians really want to change things and bring new mentality and help to build a better place to live in Congo dr, they have begin this from within and not travelling first class and sleeping in sponsored 5 starts hotels in countries which citizen will elect no one in DRC. The one and only loved topic of this opposition is to talk about elections, while there are hundred of day to day misfunctionings in that country affecting lives of millions that no one wants to talk about it? It looks like that all these pretenders only waiting for their turn to the fame of being the next president.
This analysis by Monte McMurchy is just a general observation, valid for any other country, not particularly DRC only. If he is applying it on DRC, then he is doing it on prejudice. Because the reality is that the Congo is not yet in elections period, and there are no reported delays yet in any of the institutions to contribute to the CENI. The CENI published already everything is out there. And they are just calling on every contributor to be on time.