Democratic Republic of Congo’s new Minister of Finance Doudou Fwamba Likunde is seemingly no better replacement for the condemned public funds embezzler Nicolas Kazadi as the latter also exhibits a lot of incompetence.
Doudou Fwamba Likunde has instructed the nation’s central bank, Banque Centrale du Congo (BCC), to pay out US$1.5 million of contributions to the Lake Tanganyika Authority (LTA) for the next five years.
The LTA is a body established by the governments of Burundi, DR Congo , Tanzania, and Zambia which promotes regional cooperation required for socio-economic development and sustainable management of the natural resources in the Lake Tanganyika basin.
However, Doudou Fwamba Likunde’s move which he claims to have been carried out at the recommendation of President Félix Tshisekedi has been widely criticized by the public.
The public wonders why the payment of contributions to a less-beneficial regional body would be prioritized over key sectors such as education and health.
Routine operations in key sectors such as health, even in the face of the deadly Mpox outbreak, have been crippled owing to government’s failure to pay health workers for over five months.
Teachers in the DR Congo have also gone on strike demanding for their arrears and improved working conditions.
One now wonders whether the new Finance Minister is any better than his thieving predecessor especially after information emerged that Fwamba Likunde has started negotiating for his retro-commission.
