Former DRC President Joseph Kabila has rejected an invitation to attended the inauguration ceremony of Fèlix Tshisekedi following his fraudulent re-election as president.
Kabila who handed over power to Tshisekedi in 2018 after signing a political agreement which the latter disregarded after entering office.
Tshisekedi was recently proclaimed winner of the 2023 presidential polls that were marred with several irregularities and election rigging acts by the ruling government in collaboration with the Independent Electoral Commission (CENI).
As a former head of state, member of the Senate, and a Congolese citizen, Kabila had been invited to be present at the inauguration ceremony scheduled for Saturday, January 20, 2024 at the Stade des Martyrs de la Pentecost in Kinshasa.
However, Kabila has confirmed he will not honour the invitation citing “academic reasons” as the cause for his absence.
“In accordance with the binding academic program recently announced by the University of Johannesburg, the honorary President of the Republic Joseph Kabila Kabange has recently been staying in the South African economic capital in order to face the scientific evaluators of the doctoral thesis that he will defend soon in this academic institution of the sister nation of South Africa”, declared Kabila’s communications advisor Barbara Nzambi.
Kabila and his party the Front Commun pour le Congo (FCC) had refused to participate in the 2023 General Elections after their demand for the recomposition of the CENI and appointment of new judges to the Constitutional Court was not met.