Having come into power in 2018, thanks to an “African-style compromise” according to some and now Félix Tshisekedi who was once perceived by his opponents as a puppet, has levitated into as a dictator and exercises his authority with disconcerting arrogance.
With each media outing or public appearance, he does not hesitate to belittle, insult and humiliate his opponents with terms like “Bandoki, ba opponents ya Nzala, Bordeline”.
After breaking from Joseph Kabila’s FCC coalition, Félix Tshisekedi today seems to embody a modernized version of former dictator Mobutu Sese Seko’s policies, with his arrogance, or those of Joseph Kabila, by increasing political poaching.
MPs and opposition figures like Moïse Katumbi, Jean-Pierre Bemba or Adolphe Muzito, all were seduced, according to him, to form the Sacred Union supposed to “save the nation”.
But this alliance is more akin to a vast job-sharing market, where former members of the Kabila regime, opponents, and those close to the president from Belgium all demand their share of the pie. These friends of the president, although living in Europe, seem more enriched by their taste for luxury than by a real sense of the state, and the DRC is being kept under hostage by the political figures and the presidential entourage.
At the same time, Félix Tshisekedi is increasing his trips abroad and his government is going into debt at a breakneck pace, often without clear justification.
Between 2021 and 2023, the DRC’s public debt increased from $3.6 billion to $9.8 billion. Thus, the real legacy that Félix Tshisekedi seems to want to leave to the nation is neither a consolidated Constitution nor tangible progress, but a burden of debt that future generations will have to bear.
The slogan “The people first” has transformed into a bitter irony, while the populations, particularly the grassroots activists of the UDPS, find themselves neglected.
These fighters, once at the front line and braved the tear gassing under previous regimes, today find themselves forgotten by the power they helped to install.
They are replaced by figures like Modeste Bahati and Fifi Masuka, formerly allies of Kabila, who now benefit from presidential favors.
As for these grassroots activists, they only receive in return empty slogans, insipid political mornings organized by Augustin Kabuya, and promises that never come true.
Even announced reforms, such as free education or maternity care, are unevenly applied across the country. In majority of the schools, this free service is non-existent.
Yet, despite the suffering, abandonment and injustice, these fighters continue to support this regime, like lost souls in a dark forest, refusing to recognize that they have been betrayed by those for whom they fought.
