The Congolese Minister of the Economy is subject to a barrage of criticism from deputies who attribute a large share of responsibility to him for the rise in the prices of basic necessities.
© Kash
© Kash
It doesn’t matter if galloping inflation is a phenomenon that affects, to varying degrees, all the countries of the continent and even beyond. For some of the Congolese deputies, the soaring prices observed on the country’s markets have a main responsibility: Jean-Marie Kalumba Yuma, the Minister of the Economy.
Eliezer Ntambwe, deputy elected in Lukunga, in the city of Kinshasa, launched the charge by initiating on March 22 a motion of no confidence against the minister whom he blames, in particular, for the management of the file of fishing quotas for horse mackerel. obtained by the DRC from Namibia. “It is the Minister of the National Economy who normally takes care of regulating prices, but today whether it is fuel, basic necessities, everything is on the rise, he does not control prices”, added Crispin Mbindule, elected from Butembo, in the province of North Kivu.
To read DRC: Kinshasa in the fight against the “expensive life”
Consideration of the no-confidence motion, which was due on March 28, was postponed to March 30. In the meantime, the slingshot MPs are giving their arguments and warning the minister that he must “prepare his defense.”
“Destabilize institutions”
On the side of the Sacred Union, the heterogeneous presidential majority in the Assembly, the leaders of the main parties are trying, behind the scenes, to convince their troops not to vote in favor of the motion. In a public statement issued on March 22, spokespersons for the deputies of the Sacred Union pointed an accusing finger at supporters of Moïse Katumbi, whom they believe want to “give the appearance of being with President Félix Tshisekedi, but refuses to share his record”.
To read DRC: Félix Tshisekedi or the loneliness of power
Faced with Crispin Mbindule who claims to have collected 70 signatures in favor of the motion of no confidence against Kalumba, they claim that “some of our national deputies are paid by this camp to destabilize the institutions of the DRC”. And the deputies of the Sacred Union qualify this motion of no confidence as a “food motion”… Undoubtedly, the atmosphere promises to be tense in the hemicycle at voting time.