Detained opposition leader and former vice-president of the National Assembly Jean-Marc Kabund has likened President Fèlix Tshisekedi’s government to that of former Congolese dictators Mobutu Sese Seko and Joseph Kabila.
Still under house arrest for contempt of the head of state after a speech calling him “a danger” over a year and having not undergone trial, Kabund has revealed some of the oppressions suffered while in unlawful custody at the hands of Tshisekedi’s regime.
On Monday, the UDPS interim president revealed that the authorities acting under the instruction of President Tshisekedi had perpetrated a numerous illegalities against the opposition to disadvantage them with just four months to go before the presidential elections.
DRC: During his trial, Jean-Marc Kabund explains how Félix Tshisekedi’s regime is worse than that of Mobutu and Kabila
Still detained in Makala despite a decision by the Court of Cassation for more than a year (never executed) to place him under house arrest, the former vice-president of the National Assembly and interim president of the UDPS, Jean-Marc Kabund, appeared on Monday August 7 in Kinshasa. Very offensive, he took the opportunity to put the political trial of the Tshisekedi regime whose authoritarian drift is increasingly marked four months before the official date of the presidential election.
“I speak as a candidate for President of the Republic, I speak as the president of an opposition political party, I speak as a national deputy. What I will say against him, his father, the fire Étienne Tshisekedi said it against Mobutu, he said it against Kabila, himself said one day that Mobutu was mad because the fire had been prevented doctor Étienne Tshisekedi to board. Maman Marthe was never arrested by Mobutu” Kabund said.
“Mobutu did not arrest his father, the current first lady was never arrested by Kabila, but my wife was arrested and sentenced for acts that I committed. Kabila had never arrested my wife.”
Kabund who is a former ally of President Tshisekedi condemned the act of the authorities to attack families of opponents seeking public office, acts that never happened even under the dictatorial regimes of Mobutu and Kabila.
“Attacking families is unprecedented. We had never seen that in the DRC” , denounces an official of Ecidé, the party of Martin Fayulu. “And even today, there are social networks. Imagine what Tshisekedi would have been capable of if he had led the country during Mobutu’s time or during the first years of Kabila’s mandate! “.
There has been tension in the build up to the polls set for December with incumbent President Tshisekedi’s opponents Delly Sessanga, Matata Ponyo, Franck Diongo, Salomon Kalonda, Mike Mukebayi, Daniel Safu among others victims of attacks.
Meanwhile, few weeks ago, opposition Ensemble Pour la Republique President Moïse Katumbi’s right hand man Salomon Kalonda’s 85-year-old mother of was left brutalized at her residence in Lubumbashi during a “search” of her belongings by the authorities.
Kalonda’s mother had to hospitalized with property at the residence left damaged.
Kabund reiterated his stance and warned that President Tshisekedi’s regime was out to destroy the nation and encouraged Congolese citizens to vote wisely in order to rescue themselves from dictatorship.
“I ask the people to do everything possible to ensure that Mr. Tshisekedi is set aside in the next elections because I consider that the country is in danger with him at the head. The danger is the misery of the people, it is insecurity in the east of the country and in Kinshasa, urban banditry, kidnappings. The danger is the total absence of a coherent social program, the absence of a clear program at the top of the state. Everything is done come what may. It’s a trial and error, ” Kalonda said.
“I am entitled to say it and I will repeat it whenever I have the floor,” he added.
