This is still in the central prison of Makala in Kinshasa, in the democratic Republic of the Congo, that continues the trial of Vital Kamerhe, head of the office appointed in January 2019 and political ally of the head of State Felix Tshisekedi – who has been detained since the beginning of April. The past hearings have had a lot of revelations so that the suspense remained whole after the sudden death of judge Raphael Yanyi, replaced by the judge Pierrot Bakenda Mvita. These sessions are devoted mainly to the hearing of the witnesses have marked the end of the step of the statement and the pleadings should be held on 11 June.
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Lack of transparency
On the bench of the accused Vital Kamerhe, 61 years, director of the office of the president, Félix Tshisekedi and the other two co-accused against the democratic Republic of the Congo, which was given to the civil party in the folder, for an alleged diversion of more than 50 million us dollars for the erection of 1 500 prefabricated houses the emergency programme of 100 days. These last two days of trial, June 4 and 5, have marked a turning explosive with appearances key, but above all indicative of the management calamitous of public funds under the regime of Félix Tshisekedi, champion of good governance.
indeed, several witnesses were interviewed during the two-day hearing marathon in nearly thirteen hours broadcast in extenso by the State channel RTNC. Former ministers, experts and advisors in the office of the head of the State elected at the end of 2018, the family of Vital Kamerhe, including his wife, Hamida Shatur, and the latter’s daughter, Soraya Mpiana, born of a previous marriage with the famous congolese singer JB Mpiana –, and the heads of the institutions of the State have been invited to testify for this trial, anti-corruption is unprecedented and indicative of anomalies in the chain of command in public spending.
Charges explosives
The president, Félix Tshisekedi is it the client ? This is probably the question that comes up the most in the streets of Kinshasa after this series of contradictory testimony, and explosives. Vital Kamerhe, loaded by most of the witnesses, to maintain the opacity in this case, defended himself by saying that he was not acting on the express instructions of the head of the State : “I can’t take responsibility without the knowledge of the president of the Republic “, he repeated several times. The question of the tribunal whether or not it had the annotations of the president of the Republic, instructing her to perform all of these expenses, the latter replied with firmness that he would ” prefer to remain at the prison (Makala) for the prestige of the institution and deliver the annotations from the president “.
Marcelin Bilomba, senior advisor, Félix Tshisekedi in economic and financial matters, sweeps of a reverse of hand the assertion that Vital Kamerhe would have acted on instruction of the head of the State : “I think that the name of the head of the State has been abused “, before holding up a statement that he has obtained the central bank of the Congo proving that 66 700 000 dollars have been paid to the company Samibo LLC experienced entrepreneur Lebanese Samih Jamal, beneficiary of the market for 1 500 prefabricated houses, in contrast to $ 57 million, supported by Vital Kamerhe, the governor of the central bank and the former minister of Finance.
These revelations of the senior adviser for the economic affairs of the president Tshisekedi continue to fuel debate and to throw discredit on the process of funds disbursement to the DRC under the age Tshisekedi.
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in Addition to the main folder of the diversion, the contractor lebanese Jammal Samih, age 78, of which 52 are in the Congo, has also been questioned about a gift that he would have done to the daughter-in-law of Vital Kamerhe, Soraya, in the form of a piece of real estate at the edge of the river Congo to Kinshasa. The old entrepreneur and the young woman say they both do not know each other. The wife of Vital Kamerhe, Hamida Shatur, enumerated the list of gifts received in the course of their marriage in February 2019 : 862, 000, 33, 000 euros, 10 million CFA francs (15,000 euros) and four new cars. For the rest, the business woman has made the court the challenge to find on his bank accounts ” transfer from I don’t know what planet “.
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When the opposition gets the business…
In a column published on Friday, June 5, Steve Kivwata one of the spokesperson of the coalition LUMUKA, a platform grouping the main opposition leaders, including Martin Fayulu, Jean-Pierre Bemba, and Moise Katumbi, requires the “appearance of the president, Félix Tshisekedi” at the next hearing at risk ” of being sued for infringement of the honour “. According to him, the president of the Republic has been quoted by his director of cabinet, Vital Kamerhe, as the author of these instructions to be unconstitutional and illegal, which may be selected from among the elements that led to the commission of the offences that he would have been limited to run : “because Of this, Mr Felix Tshisekedi is expected to be called as a witness at the request of one of the parties at the trial by the judge, or of office by the latter, to come and affirm or disprove the allegations of its director of firm “, a-t-he added.
For professor Devos Kitoko, secretary-general of the ECIDE advantage of the opponent Martin Fayulu confined to the United States, things are now clear, ” the 100-day program would be a mafia expertly mounted by two persons who have partitioned all the sectoral ministers appointed including their immediate collaborators “. And further that ” the prosecutor of the constitutional Court should take the case “.
No statements were recorded from the side of the FCC, mega platform of former president Joseph Kabila’s majority in the provincial assemblies and the national coalition and pro-Tshisekedi Cap for the Change (CACH), which has apparently preferred to stay under the radar. A discretion also existed at the time to mark the anniversary of their moral authority, Joseph Kabila, who turned 49 years old on 4 June.
It should be noted that the beginnings of Félix Tshisekedi in power had seen a glimmer of hope in the democratic Republic of the Congo. But for some time, all the lights are red between diversion of funds, impairment history of the local currency against the us dollar, incursions and killings of civilians by negative forces in the eastern part and especially the trial and error in the response to the pandemic of Covid-19.
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DR Congo Vital Kamerhe : trial postponed to may 25, RD Congo : Vital Kamerhe in prison, and after ? The DRC, Vital Kamerhe in pre-trial detention to the Senate in the DRC : allegations of corruption within the party of Tshisekedi RD Congo : the party of the president Tshisekedi turmoil in DR Congo : why the governance of Felix Tshisekedi is likely to be very difficult
