A coalition of political parties in Congo has described the electoral process being conducted by CENI under the leadership of its president Denis Kadima as a huge scam.
This is in the wake of numerous incidents of malpractice uncovered during the voter registration exercise which has been underway in different parts of the country since December 23, 2022.
In statement issued last week, Jean-Felix Senga, a spokesperson for the group, says numerous discrepancies have been established in the registration of voters in phase two and three in the same way similar defects were observed in phase one of the process.
“We note in particular the slowness and incompetence of the CENI agents responsible for enrollment, the repeated breakdown of the machines, the difficulties of electricity supply, the insufficient number of enrollment centers and lack of material in certain provinces, the long distances covered to reach a registration center, the intimidation suffered by the population at the hands of police agents and those of CENI as some of the main concerns undermining this process.
“In addition, CENI has not published the maps of the enrollment centers of phase two and three,” Senga stated.
The opposition has also raised alarm on the fictitious registration centres established in the capital Kinshasa but CENI president Kadima, who is a tribesmate of Tshisekedi, has paid a deaf ear to the revelations.
“In phase one, particularly in the city of Kinshasa, we have listed fictitious centers, centers mapped but not operational since the start of the operation, centers operating at addresses other than those indicated by CENI, centers without national police officers and centers that closed even before the planned closing date for operations in area number 1,” the stated.
CENI has spread out the registration process in different phases with the first that included Kinshasa and others, the second had Katanga, Kasai while the third has had Goma and other parts in Kivu.
In all the phases, glaring schemes designed to aid the ruling party have been exposed with some cases involving members of parliament loyal to President Felix Tshisekedi caught with voter registration materials that include in excess of 40, 000 voter’s cards.
“The icing on the cake is the unfortunate road accident in Tshikapa in which a member of parliament in support of Mr. Tshisekedi was caught with voting materials and has just revealed to us the extent of the fraud being prepared by Mr. Kadima and his team,” Senga said.
“The question is this: how many other parliamentarians and members of the sacred union are in possession of CENI documents, like the deputy who was caught red-handed in Tshikapa?”
Lamuka has demanded that the process of registering voters be stopped because of the clear criminal enterprise identified and that an independent commission of inquiry be set up to investigate voter fraud considering that CENI has given vague responses on the issues.
“As if what is happening locally is not enough, it has now been proven that Congolese living abroad can obtain voter cards remotely by sending a simple photo via Whatsapp and a sum of money. This sufficiently demonstrates the irresponsibility attached to this process.
“In this regard, we ask CENI to give the name of the printing press responsible for providing the voters’ cards as well as the quantity ordered and delivered to CENI. We also ask CENI to shed light on the cases of politicians who rent vehicles to transport citizens out of their places of residence to be enrolled in fictitious offices,” Senga said.
He said it was now evidently clear that the rumours that each member of CENI had been assigned a quota of deputies to be appointed were true meaning the elections were a mere formality aimed at a public relation stint for the west.
“No one in their right mind can still give the slightest credit to what the CENI is doing. Mr. Kadima and the CENI are preparing an implosion of the country through a new electoral scam which will cause irreparable damage to the country,” Senga warned.
He said the country was already facing many challenges, including a security crisis that had created tension Corneille Naanga, the head of CENI in the controversial and disputed election of 2018.
Senga has warned that failure to hold a credible, free, fair and inclusive election had the potential to plunge the DRC into a catastrophe especially that there was now irrefutable evidence that the election before them was a scam prepared to install Tshisekedi for a second term by his fellow kasais.
