A group of mixed race Congolese have filed a motion in the National Assembly to counter a divisive bill proposed by President Felix Tshisekedi’s pawn, Noel Tshiani, seeking to eliminate any presidential candidate whose both parents are not originally from Congo.
The proposal which was defeated by the same parliament two years ago targets to prevent opposition leader Moise Katumbi from challenging President Tshisekedi in the December 20, 2023 presidential election.
Katumbi’s father is originally a Jewish-Greek who settled in the Democratic Republic of Congo in the 1900s and married a Congolese woman with woman he raised a family that has become a political powerhouse in the mineral rich central African nation.
According to a letter by the Association of Mixed Race Congolese dated March 27, 2023 and is signed by Ferdinand Lokunda Dasilva, the bill by Tshiani is discriminatory.
Civil society and the popular voice in Congo has condemned the bill stating that it will fuel unrest in an already politically fragile DRC.
Tshiani, a presidential candidate of 2018, initiated the bill with the blessing of President Tshisekedi who is his fellow kasai and has been endorsed in the National Assembly by MP Nsingi Pululu.
The current parliamentary session which ends in June is expected to debate the bill which triggers high emotions among Congolese as they see it as “racist, discriminatory and unconstitutional.”
The Congolese Association for Access to Justice (ACAJ) has condemned the bill stating that it seriously undermines the integrity of the country.
“This draft reform of the electoral law will call into question the fragile national unity and lead to frustration and violence which the DRC does not need,” lawyer Georges Kapiamba says.
“I strongly call on the deputies to concentrate their efforts on the restoration of peace, particularly in the East which is plagued by armed violence and the fight against the embezzlement of public funds or even the preparation of the elections.”
