CORRECTION: New coup by businessman and politician Moïse Katumbi in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

On Friday morning, 25 September 2020, at 7:30 am, several dozens of armed police officers entered by force into the premises of the company NB Mining Africa in Lubumbashi.

KINSHASA, Democratic Republic of Congo, September 30, 2020 – While several judgments of the French justice system have dismissed all of Moïse Katumbi’s claims, he continues to try to seize assets that he sold several years ago, citing local court decisions that have never been handed down. The intervention of armed forces in the Katanga region on behalf of Moïse Katumbi poses a threat to the rule of law in the country.

On Friday morning, 25 September 2020, at 7:30 am, several dozens of armed police officers entered by force into the premises of the company NB Mining Africa (http://NB-MiningAfrica.com) in Lubumbashi (Katanga region, DRC), alongside members of the Public Prosecutor’s Office, to expel the NB Mining Africa teams.

The alleged legal basis for this action is unfounded and fallacious. NB Mining Africa is the victim of repeated harassment and intimidation, in total violation of the principles of law, with judgments that are not even publicized: the company has not been summoned before any court to assert its rights and the company’s representatives were never kept informed. Everything is happening in complete illegality, in violation of the rights of the defence and through an undisguised manipulation of the judicial system.

It would appear that armed forces are now heading towards Ruashi Mining to seize the company’s machinery and equipment.

Pascal Beveraggi, president of NB Mining Africa, says: “From someone who has run for the highest position in the country, it is unworthy to use force in this way, using the judicial authorities of a region he once governed. No elementary principle of law has been respected. French justice has ruled on what was only a matter for French justice: Moïse Katumbi sold his company, wanting to reappropriate it is pure and simple theft.”

Opinion: Reminiscing about Maj. Gen. Kazini [and will Museveni launch a “new breed” of military entrepreneurialism in North Kivu?]

This isn’t a far fetched, ancient history and such. Many of the men behind the ills of the past is still lingering around. They are in the chambers of powers, having titles and being called “honourable”. These men used their opportunities in the past to earn fortunes on the misery of others. They created massive networks, supported local militias and forged companies to ensure wealth. These was Generals, High Ranking Officials and Associates of the President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni.

This they did across the Democratic Republic of Congo. These men in question was Gen. Salim Selah, Gen. Kahinda Otafiire and Maj. Gen. James Kazini. They we’re all participating in the plundering, the looting and the illicit resource flight from the DRC to Uganda. They ensured the military presence and their allies could extract, steal and operate illegal businesses to profit out of. That was all done with the blessing of the “High Above” in Kampala.

Today, I started to reminiscing about Maj. Gen. James Kazini, the late General who was killed by his girlfriend in 2009. That was year after the war in the DRC ended. The man who had together with various of factions, barriers to market and usage of force made it possible to enrich himself on the conflict. He together with Gen. Salim Selah secured companies like Victoria Group. Victoria Group even had as one of their shareholders being Gen. Muhoozi Kainerubaga. That’s why this enterprise was supported, all from the top!

The Uganda People’s Defence Force (UPDF) used the power they had in the region to exploit the mineral resource and re-export it. Like selling diamonds, gold and coffee as Ugandan, but it origins was from the DRC.

Therefore, knowing all this, as the news of the Cabinet Meeting in Entebbe on Monday this week. Which stated building road-network in the North Kivu Province. I cannot help to think, that it’s not only a wet-dream for road-scandal with tenders, lost funds and ghosts. Also with the history of the UPDF. The history of men like Maj. Gen. Kazini. There could be people willing to profit from the sins of the past again. Especially, profitable mineral resources as cobalt and others, which happens to be in North Kivu.

So, if Uganda National Roads Authority (UNRA) is building the roads in North Kivu. Then, the President and his team will come excuses that the UPDF need a battalion to ensure the safety of contractors and engineers. While, the same army will also configure ways to participate in more military entrepreneurialism in the province. That would be a way to kick-back and make it profitable.

That the UPDF and UNRA would do this wouldn’t be shocking. There is to much resources and possible exploits for them to not grab it. Even if it is a illicit business and illegal. Still, to this day the Ugandan government is exploiting Congolese gold as they are minting it at the Gold Refinery in Entebbe. Which is why, I am thinking there is more plans ahead in North Kivu.

They are not just going there to tarmac some roads and build a bridge or two. No, they are not compensation for the past hurt and looting. No, these men are finding a new way to exploit and profit of the situation. This is the same government that has used Kisoro as a base and supported para-military groups in the DRC. The same government that was a safe-haven for M-23 soldiers. Therefore, I have little trust of the goodwill…

Until proven otherwise. Peace.

Opinion: Rwabwogo isn’t wrong… [about the NRM and Museveni]

“The NRM party that I identify with, we are most likely building democracy around an individual. If you remove Museveni, NRM party will struggle” – Sylvia Rwabwogo (Anthony Wesaka . ‘NRM party will struggle without Museveni, says MP Rwabwogo’ 30.09.2020).

That the National Resistance Movement (NRM) and President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni are interconnected has been from the start. Just like the Uganda Patriotic Movement (UPM) was tied with Museveni. The NRM is the same…

There would be no NRM, if there was no Museveni and vice-versa. They are both connected. We all know this. The National Resistance Movement is his child, the political party made out of the National Resistance Army (NRA). This is all well-known.

The whole party is built around and his vision. The NRM is Museveni and Museveni is NRM. We are many who has said that. They are calling it a mass-party, the party of the public, but there is lack of membership cards and it’s just supposed to be all citizens are naturally members of the party. There is also this idea that you can scratch away the citizens who are members of opposition parties and equate the rest as NRM members. That shows how they are making the citizens members of the party.

Museveni has made it like this. That has been his idea. It is historical for him, as he ushered in the Movement System and reluctantly rectified the Multi-Party Democracy. Because, the NRM as it came into power. It wanted everyone to be under their organization and keep it under one house.

That was all part of Museveni’s vision. The NRM will loose steam the moment Museveni is gone. Just like Uganda People’s Congress (UPC) have lost their fire after the loss of Dr. Milton Obote. The same will happen to the NRM.

When your not building institutions, but is building on one personality. Than, you will loose it all when that personality is gone. The NRM will fade when Museveni goes. This is because it was all him.

Some will say this is hogwash, but we all know the gist. The NRM will start to battle over the throne. The NRM will face struggles and the NRM Central Executive Committee (CEC) will fight for the Presidency. There will be fraction and the sides will take their turns. These will not easily give way, as the man who steered the ship has already left the party.

Museveni is the reason why people are there. He is making sure all of the people are eating out his hand and his feeding them. Museveni is the man, the legend and the hero of the party. The one everyone looks up to and praise. The President knows this and that is why his the sole candidate. The same are plenty of his loyal allies. They are supposed to be automatically supported, because he vouch for them.

This is why the NRM will loose its importance and vitality. The party will not be itself without its founder and visionary. Museveni is the foundation and when they take away that stone. It is bound to fail. It will be bickering and internal squabble, which will cost.

They will not be as strong, as the centre is lost. The one place to always pin and secure the party will not be there.

It was good to hear this from someone from the inside. As it validates what we critics been saying for years.

The day Museveni is gone, the day his not there, the NRM might be history. If not the NRM might end up as powerful and respected as UPC. That wouldn’t be shocking. When you build a party around one man. You can loose it all, when the one man isn’t there. This is why, good governance is to build institutions with procedures and not just follow one man blindly like the NRM has does. Peace.

Ethiopia: Oromo Federalist Congress (OFC) – A New Year’s Call for Genuine National Dialogue (28.09.2020)

Zimbabwe: MDC/MDC-T – Press Statement – The Law Prevailed over Lawlessness (30.09.2020)

Philippines: National Security Council – The P16,44 B Barangay Development Program is meant to Empower Communities Suffering from the Violence of the NPA (30.09.2020)

Uganda: Cabinet Meeting at the State House authorised building roads in the North Kivu Province! [A new saga begins]

Yesterday on the 28^th September 2020 at the State House in Entebbe, the Cabinet Meeting have made several of decisions. These are usually rubber-stamped by the Parliament. Therefore, what they decided is decisive. The National Resistance Movement (NRM) and its government are really starting a expansive plan.

The NRM are now going forward with building roads in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

These roads are:

Kasinde – Beni (80 Km)

Beni – Butembo Axis (54 km)

Bunagana – Rutshuru – Goma (89 km)

They are building the roads in the North Kivu in a region, which the Ugandan state have both occupied between August 1998 to June 2003. As well, as the Ugandan involvement in toppling Mobutu and installing Laurent Kabila. Because, of the looting of the years and the loss of the compensation for it.

Is this the way the Ugandan government trying to bait- and switch the government of Kinshasa? Will President Tshisekedi and Kabila accept this?

This is about 223 kilometres of tarmacked roads within the North Kivu province. A place the para-military of the Uganda knows well. A region where the Uganda People’s Defence Force (UPDF) are familiar in. Who knows how they are planning to develop this and who will do the bidding?

Is this more Chinese Operators or in connection with the Uganda National Roads Authority (UNRA). One of the most corrupt institutions in Uganda, which is the reason why buildings roads in the Republic is so expensive.

That is why its weird that the Ugandan is doing this and made this decision in a Cabinet Meeting yesterday. Wonder, if the government and authorities within the DRC will accept this? Is this to patch the hurt or is this a gamble of the Presidency?

They are pursuing it for inter-connectivity, mobility and for security. That is what they are stating in the minutes from the Cabinet Meeting. However, in my opinion this isn’t about bilateral cooperation and further the ties of the Republic’s.

The Cabinet Meeting and the State of Uganda is gambling that this will be a sort of pay-off for their plundering. Do some good deeds, but that has to be accepted by Kinshasa. That is something we have to see and this can take forever before it starts. We can wonder who will deal with the tenders, the budgets and who will keep the governments accountable. This sort of building and development project is a corrupt man wet-dream. As there will be no clear oversight and will be raining funds. There will be ghosts, there will be goats and will be unallocated funds.

We can also wonder, if this will be an excuse to have the UPDF returning into the province of North Kivu, as they have to be security for the road-companies and the construction. That wouldn’t shock me at all.

That is all speculation, but this story is only starting. There will be devils in the details. We just have to see, if the states will write Memorandums of Understandings (MOUs) and Agreements to safeguard the deals. Therefore, the Cabinet Meeting yesterday is just a beginning. This is a saga that will continue… Peace.

Opinion: Isn’t the 10th October 2020 – PP and Abiy’s due date?

The Prosperity Party (PP) and Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed Ali are soon living on borrowed time. The government, the House of Federation (HoF) and the House of People’s Representatives are running out of time. This term for their mandate to be representatives of the people ends on the 10^th October 2020.

While that is happening, the Federal Government is working on overtime to dismiss the Tigray Election, which happened earlier in September. Ironically, the only election that was held within the time-frame of the Constitution. The ones the HoF and the Prime Minister is supposed to uphold.

The Ethiopian Government have already postponed the election twice this year. There was supposed to be an election on the 29^th August 2020. This was already postponed in April 2020 this year. There is now a scheduled election to instead happening during the month of February 2021. That is several of months on overtime. Then the Representatives and the Government is practically working without a mandate. That ceased to be active on the 10^th October 2020. This is why the state should have gone forward with an election this September to ensure the Republic with a legitimate government.

Instead, the House of Federation have suspended the elections and the National Election Board of Ethiopia (NEBE) have followed suit too. The HoF called the Tigray Elections unconstitutional and deemed them “null and void”. While, themselves are soon illegitimate, because they didn’t hold an election in time. That is how ironies and hypocrisy bites you in the ass.

Prime Minister Abiy isn’t only a false prophet, a fake Messiah, but he wants to rule illegitimate for months too. That is why he first made statements for peace, but has sent his soldiers to violate civilians. He has negotiated with the opposition, given them a hand and applauded them. For later ensure their arrests, forged charges and called them terrorist. The man has made fake coup d’etat’s and consolidated power. This man is postponing elections to favour himself.

Abiy was never elected, he was selected by a internal coalition, which has made into one and into his vision. So, that the Prime Minister has control and wants to seal the deal of the opposition. This is all for him to get the glory. He enjoyed the Peace Price and the Award Ceremony. The man basked in glory and international credibility. However, the same man will not take accountability for the violence, the conflict and misuse of power.

That is why he has no trouble reigning a illegitimate government. As he himself isn’t a elected leader. He should have fixed this already. The Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) have given him a lesson. A lesson his not accepting, as his ego and he accepts to be unconstitutional. While claiming the counterpart is the same. Ironies again, the TPLF and the Regional Government did what the Constitution stipulates.

It is really a weird time we are living in. Where people are dying on the account of people who are claimed to be men of peace. In a state, where the supposed reforms are supposed to benefit the public, but instead benefits a small minority and their allies in power. That is why the Prime Minister and his party is scheming to ensure total control.

He does this, by circumventing the laws and misusing his office. The type of action this man has no issues with pursuing. Abiy and his government shouldn’t prolong the agony. It will just cause a charade of a election. The HoF quests in the next few months will be questioned, as their mandate is already terminated. They have lingered in power and not fixed the technicalities. While the opposition lingers in jail. That is the state of affairs.

Who knew that Abiy would betray the state and do it all for his own selfish interests? This isn’t reforming the state for the betterment of the public. Ensuring that regions are burning, their leaders are behind bars and cracking a rigged election next year. That is only showing how he wants to be King, but has no throne to reign from. This is why he has to assault it, destroy it and bash in the glory of the bloodshed he causes. He will pin the blame on the victims like a real tyrant does…

So, now his banging on his own deadline, as the mandate ceases within a few days. About 10 days to be exact and by what I reckon. There will be no election to re-elect or get people voted in as Representatives in time. Which by all means that the Federal Government, the ones Representing and the Cabinet itself is all illegitimate.

That is the status quo in a few days and it has been a deliberate act by the ones in power. Abiy and his cronies have all done this. They have made it all happen and are no in-effect illegally occupying their offices. That will be the reality of it.

This is the same HoF who dismissed and called the Tigray “null and void”. The ones who actually followed the Constitution. That is tragic part here. These are the people that saying its sinful to have sex before marriage, but has no issues have mistresses and having side-dishes all across town. They can scream of monogamy, but living a life of polygamy. Therefore, their words and acts are riddled with deceit. They are hooked on power and will use all means to keep. Even end their enemies if they got too. Peace.

Opinion: ZANU-PF blaming the West like always…

“We are watching attempts to drive Zimbabwe into chaos. Some rogue elements among us, are conniving with some hostile Western governments to smuggle guns and set up so-called Democratic Resistance Committees that are, for all intents and purposes, violent militia groups. These plans are key components of “Operation Light House”, the brainchild of one Western power, that seeks to destroy the democratic foundations of Zimbabwe, make the country ungovernable and justify foreign intervention. As the State Security sector, we shall take concrete action to deal with such threats” (Statement Issued by the Minister of State Security Honourable O. Ncube (MP) – On the State Security Situation – Harare – 24 September 2020).

This is a steady argument from the Zimbabwe African National Union – Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF). I remember so many times late President Robert Mugabe blamed the West. The governing party of Zimbabwe have always looked across its border and into the Western Hemisphere. They got to blame either the British or any other former Colonial Power. That is what they do.

Now, the New Dispensation and the 2^nd Republic is more of the same. Instead of fixing the issues, the failing economy and the militarization of the government. The human rights violations and the arbitrary arrests, abductions and such is the reason for the sanctions towards the state. This has been like this and it haven’t changed with President Emmerson Mnangagwa. It has been amped up … and they are destabilizing the opposition and activists on their way.

So, the ZANU-PF have to create foreign enemies, even when there are none. Just to make it seem like they are attacked. Though, the reality of it all is that they are ones creating enemies within their own realm.

The 2^nd Republic is attacking its own citizens. That’s why they are blaming the West. ZANU-PF needs a scapegoat. They need to pin someone else, because they cannot be to blame. These folks who reinvented themselves and took power though another operation, which they deemed “Operation Restore Legacy”.

We are just supposed to forget that and the state sponsored violence that has occurred since then. Like the ZANU-PF haven’t caused pain and suffering. They have the power, have appointed the leadership and made the policies in the aftermath of their “Operation Restore Legacy”.

So, in that regard, they have to create a “Operation Light House”. Just because, suddenly there are a will to have a armed coup d’etat against the ZANU-PF. The same ZANU-PF who are saying the West is inciting violence through the Opposition, which is also a common argument too.

Therefore, blaming the West is a common thread for the ZANU-PF. It has been like that since Mugabe and it will be like that for the years to come. As long as the regime survives, they will pin their faults on someone else. Right now it is the West and tomorrow they will blame Chamisa again. Peace.

Kenya: Joint CSOs Statement – Corruption in the Health Sector is Negatively Affecting Realization of the Right to Health (29.09.2020)