My letter to Felix Tshisekedi: Are you ready to live a lie?

10th January 2019, Oslo

Dear, His Excellency Felix Tshisekedi!

Lies written in ink cannot disguise facts written in blood.”Lu Xun

I am writing you today as the Presidential Candidate of the coalition known as Common Front for Congo (CACH), which is the two party coalition Congolese Union for Democracy and Social Progress (UDPS) and Union for the Congolese Nation (UNC). The importance of that the political coordination with UNC Vital Kamerhe. We have seen that and seen how it has gone in the recent months. That is why I write to you, with haste, as it is needed at this point and time.

Honourable Sir, you have a choice, you can live on the lie, you can enjoy the perks, the position and the role as Head of State. You can do the hard one, accept it is wrong and challenge the results of the provincial announced results of Commission Electorale Nationale Indépendante (CENI) on the 9th January 2019. As the first results of the Presidential Elections of the 30th December 2018, which have made you the winner of it.

I know it is a lot to ask, as there are two other monitoring bodies, local ones with local observers, that has challenged these results, which makes you a winner. This being Conférence Nationale Épiscopale du Congo (CENCO) and Synergie des Missions d’Observation Citoyenne des Elections (SYMOCEL). As they have other results and another candidate than you as their winner, by their collected samples of the election.

So, as we know this lie. You know this lie and you are living on the lie. Will you able to live with the lie, is the raving power and the opportunity to be the Big-Man so enticing? That you will live on it and breathe it? That you will be accepted being remembered for trading the ballots for power.

Now, we are seeing the real you, the man who made a deal with FCC, the People’s Party for Reconstruction and Democracy (PPRD) to ensure the FCC-UDPS-UNC will be a weak coalition. It will be manoeuvred and controlled, the Tshisekedi Presidency will be a Toy Story of the FCC-PPRD. A puppet of the patronage of the Joseph Kabila as accepted in the deals behind close doors.

Is this what you will be remembered for Tshisekedi. Not winning and a peaceful transition. You will be remembered for being part of a heist. You will be remembered for stealing an election as part of a deal made between closed doors. Is that what your legacy is worth? Is that what power is worth for you?

Because, the republic should be more valuable, the 3rd Republic should be the one want to preserve and ensure as a man who runs for Presidency. Not just seeking power for power sake. That is what it seems.

Hope you can manage to live with lie, as the lie will be with you and your to carry. Because you accepted it and took it. You can endure it, but that will not change it. The truth is still there and will be known. You will never have the legitimacy or the trust of the whole public. As you were never intended to be this.

You were the supposed lucky loser, the second place, but it was better to swallow the lie. It was better to take the hot-seat and be the Big-Man.

Hope it is worth it though. May your soul live it.

Best Regards

Writer of Minbane

RDC: Communique de la Majorite Presidentielle (10.01.2019)

RDC: SYMOCEL – Communique de Presse sur la publication des resultats proisoires des scrutins presidentiel et provinclaux du 30 decembre 2018 (10.01.2019)

Opinion: No time to celebrate, yet. Maybe, later though!

Yesterday evening, the provincial results of the 30th December 2018 Presidential Elections got released. As that appear, the heir to the throne, Emmanuel Shadari lost and that was inevitable. If he would win, no one would believe it as true and a sham it would be. Because, that is Kabila’s first choice of man to succeed him.

However, if you thought Felix Tshisekedi Tshilombo and Vital Kamerhe was real opposition? You were wrong. As it have been confirmed during the December 2018, that there was negotiations between the CACH and FCC/Kabila. Also, to alter the fact of the announcement yesterday. There was news that Coalition pour le Changement (CACH) and Front Commun pour le Congo (FCC) that they held secret talks, as the provincial polls was postponed again. Therefore, as they were postponed on Sunday, CENI changed it after the reported talks and posted them last night. Just mere 24hours to 48hours max from the secret meeting in question between the parties. Because most people knows, if they have followed, that the heir to throne Shadari have never been popular and had any traction. So to change guards would be smart, to buy legitimacy.

Vital Kamerhe, who has been a close associate with Kabila in the past. Could have easily have moved close to the Presidential Palace and negotiated with them. As he is a savvy politician and knows the game well. This would have boosted the opportunities for his UNC and UDPS chances of any reach with the men of power.

There are expected to be a CACH-FCC Union, where the FCC get the Prime Minister and we don’t know, which post in the Cabinet. But if that is true, than the Kabila continues with just a change of guards. No real change, just a minor difference in party flag and whose the head. Because, it might not be Shadari, who was preferred, but still a man that Kabila and his folk can control.

While that would not happen with other opposition group, Lamuka with Jean Pierre Bemba (MLC) and Moise Katumbi (G-7, Ensemble), which had fielded Martin Fayulu as their Presidential Candidate. The one that CENCO now is claiming has the upper-hand, while CENI are saying Tshisekedi. Which fits the negotiated arrangement done by the CACH-FCC to counter the possible prospects of a Lamuka Government post-Kabila. That will not happen, because then the ill-gotten gains of the patronage of Kabila might be in-danger.

The CACH-FCC are working on down-playing their talks, their negotiations, but the postponement of election results combined with the leaks. Are showing there was smoke and now we see the fire. They can act as if it was nothing, when it really was. Because, deep down somewhere, Kabila knew that no one really supported his heir and his wishful candidate. That is why the reports of the secret meetings in December 2018 and the last minute meetings within the last 48 hours or so. Seems so long ago, but it’s just mere seconds ago.

While we are here, I will not celebrate, even if it is the supposed first time since independence, that there is a peaceful transition. Because, it is a fraud and a fake, a mockery of an attempt, a heist and a lock-out of the public will by the men in power. It is not a just foul-play, but acts of deviousness to take away the civic duty and the justification to hold elections. When, its in the end negotiated with the man on the throne.

There was no need of the drama, the internet blockade, the attacks on Lamuka Convoy in Lubumbashi, the excessive rigging and uncertainty made by CENI games. CENI played the people, CENI and Kabila mocked the free-will and the people’s right to determine who to succeed him.

Why do I say that, for the simple reason, CENCO has said the numbers doesn’t add up, the provincial announced results. They are claiming that and has documentation to state it. That means the third candidate is the supposed winner, but he will not be elected, as that will ensure the demise of the patronage and wealth of Kabila. While a CACH-FCC will continue the same old, same old with a few new comrades. Peace.

Declaration du President de la Commission sur les Resultats de L’Election Presidentielle en Republique Democratique Du Congo (10.01.2019)

President Ramaphosa notes provisional results of elections in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)

President Ramaphosa also urges all political parties and their supporters to also allow Independent National Electoral Commission (CENI) to perform its legal and constitutional duties without interference.

PRETORIA, South Africa, January 10, 2019 – The President of South Africa, H.E. President Cyril Ramaphosa, notes the provisional results released by the Independent National Electoral Commission (CENI) of the DRC and call on CENI to finalise the process with speed to ensure the credibility of the election and also maintain peace and stability.

The provisional results put candidate Felix Antoine Tshisekedi Tshilombo ahead of Martin Fayulu Madidi and Emmanuel Shadary.

The President wishes to congratulate all parties and stakeholders in the DRC for ensuring peace and stability during the election processes and urge all regional and international interested parties to refrain from speculation and allow CENI to complete the process.

President Ramaphosa also urges all political parties and their supporters to also allow CENI to perform its legal and constitutional duties without interference and pressure.

 

RDC: Declaration de la CENCO a l’Issue de sa Mission d’Observation Electorale (10.01.2019)

Statement attributable to the Spokesman for the Secretary-General on the elections in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (10.01.2019)

He commends the Congolese people and political actors for the conduct of the presidential, national and provincial legislative elections.

NEW YORK, United States of America, January 10, 2019 – The Secretary-General takes note of the announcement, on 9 January, by the Commission électorale nationale indépendante (CENI) of the provisional results of the 30 December presidential elections in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). He commends the Congolese people and political actors for the conduct of the presidential, national and provincial legislative elections, which saw a broad and inclusive participation of political parties.

The Secretary-General calls on all stakeholders to refrain from violence and to channel any eventual electoral disputes through the established institutional mechanisms in line with the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s Constitution and relevant electoral laws.

The Secretary-General expresses the hope that the CENI, the Constitutional Court, the Government, political parties and civil society will each live up to their responsibility in preserving stability and upholding democratic practices in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

The Secretary-General further reiterates the continued support and commitment of the United Nations, in collaboration with regional actors and international partners, for the consolidation of peace, stability and development in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Stéphane Dujarric, Spokesman for the Secretary-General

RDC: Lamuka – Declaration du 09 Janvier 2019 (09.01.2019)

RDC: CPP-SK – Note de PLA/Doyer Pour la Paix en R.D. Congo dans le Processus Electoral en Cours (09.01.2019)