Former Justice Minister in the Joseph Kabila administration, Alexis Thambwe Mwamba, says some of the 24 candidates hold dual nationality yet no one has questioned the anomaly because they are with the ruling party.
Thambwe was short of revealing that President Felix Tshisekedi, who grew up in Belgian where he also did his primary and secondary school education, should be prevented from the race for holding dual nationality.
Also in the race for president holding another nationality is Noel Tshiani, the bankrupt American-Congolese economist petitioning the Constitutional Court to invalidate Ensemble pour la République president Moise Katumbi’s candidature.
Tomorrow, the Congolese Constitutional Court is set to decide on Tshiani’s petition to invalidate Katumbi’s candidature from the elections set for December 20, 2023.
The ruling party was banking on Thambwe as an authority who established Katumbi was an Italian national.
Thambwe recently poured cold on Tshisekedi and his team’s claims prompting accusations he had been bribed to side with Katumbi.
The official, who is also a senator, has responded to the accusations of bribery and warned that the DRC will implode should Katumbi’s candidature be invalidated on flimsy grounds.
“There is even a well-identified candidate for President of the Republic with an indisputable foreign nationality. Nobody talks about it because they are on the right side of history, but people attack Katumbi out of hypocrisy. Katumbi is Congolese. His (Katumbi’s) documents are authentic,” Thambwe said, adding, “The country is on the verge of implosion if Katumbi’s candidacy is invalidated… My concern is the integrity of the country.”
Thambwe said in his long career of public service, he has never seen the hypocrisy being displayed by Tshisekedi and his administration.
“I am 80 years old today. I have worked for 38 years with state functions, 7 times minister, CEO, ambassador and now I am a senator… how much money can Moise Katumbi give me? I am not a member of his party. He is not from the same political family as me… We have ministers and deputies with various nationalities,” Thambwe revealed.
Tshisekedi and his family have grown up in Belgium where they were ferried by their late father, Etienne, founder of the ruling UDPS.
While in Belgium, the President also worked as a pizza delivery driver during his post high days.
