Opposition leader Moïse Katumbi claimed in statement issued on 09 August 2016 that President Kabila has a three-pronged strategy to illegally cling to power and called upon the Congolese people to ensure the incumbent Head of State « leaves through the front door ».
The statement comes in response to Kabila’s announcement made during his recent visit to Uganda when he said “We have started voter registration. It will take time but as soon as the voters register is available, we shall have an election”.
According to Katumbi, the Kabila’s three-pronged strategy to extend his stay in power will be implemented by first holding a dialogue with disingenuous opponents to usher a transition government. Then elections will be held in a fashion that delays as much as possible the presidential election. And once these two steps are completed, the constitution will be amended to scrap terms limit.
Voici ma réaction aux propos du Président #Kabila; le plan anticonstitutionnel de la majorité ne passera pas. pic.twitter.com/BKjuNshN3M
— Moise Katumbi (@moise_katumbi) August 9, 2016
The English translation of the full statement is found below.
STATEMENT BY MOISE KATUMBI FOLLOWING THE ANNOUNCEMENT MADE BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC JOSEPH KABILA ON THE ELECTORAL PROCESS IN THE DRC
Brussels, 9 August 2016
On 4 August 2016, during a visit in Uganda, the DRC President of the Republic, Joseph Kabila, has announced that an election calendar could not be published before the completion of voters’ registration operation currently under way after being commenced by the National Independent Electoral Commission (CENI) since 31 July 2016.
This new episode demonstrates, if some still doubt, Joseph Kabila and his ruling coalition intention’s intention. This intention consists in Kabila remaining in power at all costs, despite our Constitution and against the aspiration of the people to witness the first democratic and peaceful change of power in 2016.
Amongst causes that have brought me to resign from the People’s Party for Reconstruction and Democracy (PPRD) and from my position as governor of the province of Katanga in September 2015 were the non-respect of our constitution, the manipulation of our institutions and, more largely, a drift into totalitarianism by our regime.
The objectives of those ruling is clear: do everything they can to remain in power. Their action plan is equally clear and revolves around three axes.
1. Hold a factitious political dialogue with a number of accomplices from all walks of life, in order to put in place an illegitimate interim government to server their totalitarian ambitions.
2. Announce an electoral calendar that first gives priority to local and provincial elections, prior to legislative national elections. This will result in delaying as much as possible the presidential election and, through non-compliant polls, ensure a comfortable majority is secured within local institutions, provincial parliaments, the Senate and in the national assembly.
3. Bring about a vote by both parliament houses that will change the Constitution to all them to cling to power.
This plan constitutes a crime of high treason. Fortunately, it will only be a utopian dream of a dying regime. The Congolese people and forces of change will not allow themselves to be deceived and betrayed in this manner. They will take themselves in charge, in line with the Constitution, to save the country.
In another public statement made in Beni on 7 August 2016, President Kabila was laudatory of forming part of a generation that has liberated the country and established democracy.
How is it then that in this same statement he denigrated and heaped opprobrium on our elders who have unwaveringly fought for this democracy simply because they do not share his views and refuse to support him in his drifts?! Far from demonstrating wisdom and contributing to the national unity so much sought after, such statements risk opposing our compatriots and further divide the country.
Worse still, through all these manoeuvres, the regime is undermining and threatening this democracy by progressively replacing it by a totalitarian regime. With the help of everyone, this will not succeed.
On 20 September 2016, the electorate must be convened to vote, as prescribed by the Constitution. On 20 December 2016, a new President of the Republic must be in office. If all these constitutional obligations are not complied with, the Congolese people shall have to oppose the installation of the dictatorship and no longer accept the regime in place. Such will be the case, hopefully, for the international community. It is still possible to save democracy in the DRC and, for President Kabila, to leave by the front door.