Former Speaker of the National Assembly Thomas Luhaka has joined calls to stop the advancement of the Tshiani Bill becoming into law as it was in conflict with the constitution.
Luhaka says article 13 of the Congolese constitution is very clear that no longer should be entertained when it promotes discrimination.
“It is established that the Tshiani’s bill is discriminatory in excluding Congolese whose parents are foreign from accessing certain public functions because of their family background,” he says.
“Referring to the father or mother of a candidate for public office is referring to his/her family background to discriminate against
him/her which is strictly prohibited by Article 13 of our Constitution. So the Tshiani bil, by creating this discrimination, violates the Constitution.”
A bill suspected to be sponsored by President Felix Tshisekedi and has been tabled in parliament despite failing in 2021 seeks to eliminate popular opposition leader Moise Katumbi from being on the ballot on December 20, 2023.
Respected Catholic leader Fridolin Ambongo said in his Easter Holiday message that the bill was “diving the country more than it was uniting it.”
Congolese, countrywide, have opposed the Tshiani Bill, which is sponsored by Tshisekedi, arguing that Moise Katumbi was born in Congo to a Congolese woman and has previously led the country’s richest area, Katanga, as Governor despie his father, Nissim Soriano, being a Greek-Jew who fled the Holocaust and setlled in the former Belgian colony.
