On the Necessity of a Transitional Government without the Kabila Regime in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (Issued: October 18, 2018).
This open letter initiated by Congolese intellectuals in the U.S.A argues strongly in support of a Transitional Government without the Kabila regime (GTSK) in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), and against the holding of the elections scheduled for December 23, 2018. It offers an overview of the salient political history of DRC and its people’s quest for democracy under the rule of law. It draws on these facts to present several arguments that are informed by a conjunction of daily realities in the country and by the Congolese constitution of 2005 to call for the removal of Hypolite Kabange Kanambe’s, alias Joseph Kabila, illegitimate and illegal government.
The letter maintains that for fifty-eight years the Congolese people have been denied their inalienable rights and sovereignty through externally engineered coups d’état, regime changes, and internally rigged elections. These acts have permitted the perpetuation of dictatorships at the detriment of participatory democracy, national socio-economic development, and the establishment of the rule of law. It not only vehemently decries these behaviors, but also views them as existential threats to DRC and its integration. It invokes Articles 5, 64, and 70 of the Congolese constitution to justify the removal of Kabila’s government, and the installment of a GTSK in its place, as expressed by the 2017 systematic and transparent Internet election in which over 10 million Congolese participated.
Furthermore, the letter weighs the option between holding the general elections in December 2018 against that of establishing a GTSK. Based on the past twenty years of mediocrity and criminality of the current regime, it concludes that the GTSK is the best and only viable option for the country’s peaceful transition to democracy, implementation of the rule of law, and economic development instead of continued stagnation and disintegration. It is argued furthermore that the GTSK will lay the requisite foundations for the next credible, fair, transparent and peaceful elections at the conclusion of its term. The proposed current elections, even if by some miracles were to be conducted, will be rigged in favor of Kabila’s political party, and will consequently trigger a true civil war that will give Kabila an additional pretext to declare a state of emergency and slaughter more Congolese with impunity. Such a development will be catastrophic for the entire African Great Lakes Region, Africa in general, and therefore, must be avoided.
Dr. Tshishimbi was a periodic participant to CEREC forums/workshops held in Washington, DC or surrounding towns, whenever he…
