Scottish-based Congolese human rights lawyer Dr. Debora Kayembe has urged the Congolese people to elect a leaders that will work to guarantee the nation a bright future ahead of the 20 December 2023 Presidential Elections.
Born in Kinshasa, Dr. Kayembe left the DRC in 2000 for safety reasons owing to the turbulent security situation in the country and settled in Scotland where she became the first black woman to be elected as Rector of the prestigious University of Edinburgh and, the first African to see his portrait erected at the Royal Society of Edinburgh.
Now planning to make her return to the DRC to unveil her political ambition to run for the presidency in 2028, Dr. Kayembe has encouraged the DRC to use their power through the ballot to usher in a government that will bring hope of a bright future.
“My message is not to the candidates but to the Congolese people. If you vote out people who have not served you, your suffering will continue. When you go to the polls, vote for those you think will give you and your families a better future” Dr. Kayembe said in an interview.
Dr. Kayembe has also noted with concern and sadness the atrocities that been committed against the opposition by the ruling government in the build-up to the elections.
“What makes me very sad is the fact that we are attacking political opponents in a systematically unfair way and the opposition is being cut into pieces and weakened” Dr. Kayembe said.
She also bemoaned the ever growing corruption in the DRC that had arisen from the numerous problems including financial hardships and unemployment.
“Because there is a disease, money problems in the DRC, now everything is done with money, the virus of corruption even affects young people aged 20, 22, 23. It’s a virus that needs to get rid of. This is what I would like to instill in our youth. I got to the top of the world as a refugee, like a slave to the top of the world, with no money. Because I believed in my intellectual abilities and my personal abilities” she said.
Dr. Kayembe is set to return to the DRC before the 2023 Presidential Elections and is expected to launch a new political party.
