Tag: GreatLakesNews

{The Congolese Catholic Church has brokered an agreement between political foes in the DRC, renewing hopes for an end to the political crisis in the country. But why does the Catholic Church hold such sway over the Congo?}

The agreement reached on New Year’s Eve foresees a transition government headed by a prime minister who is to be appointed by the opposition. This administration will run the country until presidential elections towards the end of 2017, when President Joseph Kabila must step down. The breakthrough agreement was brokered by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference in Congo (CENCO). The Catholic Church is one of the few institutions that have managed to preserve their credibility throughout the Democratic Republic of Congo’s (DRC) tumultuous history.

It is a history in which the Catholic Church was always a key player, starting in colonial times. Congolese human rights lawyer Pascal Kambale sees the roots of the church’s prominent role in the country’s distant past when the Congo was the property of the Belgian King Leopold II: “The king could not rely on the Belgian administration to run the country. So he outsourced the day-to-day administration to different Catholic congregations.” This gave the church a “political clout that it doesn’t have in many other countries,” Kambale told DW.

{{Help from the Vatican}}

Equally important for the church’s role was the presence in public life of a number of charismatic leaders like Cardinal Joseph-Albert Malula, who “opposed President MobutoSese Seko’s policies in the 1970s and 1980s,” according to Kambale. But the most important factor driving the church’s influence may well be its social activities: “They run an impressive network of schools. Some of the best hospitals in Congo are run by the Catholic Church,” he said.

The church relies heavily on outside help to finance these social activities. That assistance can come from the Vatican or Catholic congregations in richer countries. Aware of the church’s popularity beyond the 30 million Catholics, or about 50% of the population, Kabila’s government has tried to maintain good relations wit the Vatican. Recently, it signed a bilateral treaty that will return property to the church which was confiscated under Mobutu.

{{Some inconsistency}}

While the Catholic Church has stood up against corruption and campaigned for democracy and human rights in the DRC, its policies have not always been consistent. That is especially true when its own interests were at stake. In the 2011 presidential elections, CENCO’s network of 30,000 observers had no doubts that the vote was rigged. But the church preferred to keep this quiet, analyst Kambale said. “In 2011, the church was so divided that it seemed very risky to the majority of the bishops to publish the results, because a very important minority of bishops objected. I think they decided that the unity of the church was more important than publishing the results they had.”

But that has changed, with the church now being “extremely united behind the need to see the constitution respected,” Kambale said, adding: “I think that allowed the church to play the role that it has played this time around.”

{{Serious worries}}

The agreement brokered by the church explicitly does not allow for President Kabila, whose second mandate expired in December, to run for a third term. The suspicion that he was planning to alter the constitution to be able to run again led to recent bloodshed. Observers feared more violence would be ahead if the president refused to step down.

Striking a cautious note concerning the agreement’s chances, human rights lawyer Kambale said: “We know that President Kabila did not commit himself personally.” He didn’t sign the agreement and made no mention of it in his traditional end-of-the-year address: “That is worrisome,” Kambale said, stressing that the president still controlled the military and the police. Other analysts note that no concrete date has been set yet for presidential elections and point to Kabila’s past maneuvering. It remains to be seen whether the agreement will be implemented and when.

Nevertheless, Kambale feels optimistic about his country’s future prospects. The agreement, he said “was a very important milestone.” And in spite of all remaining problems he believed that: “We enter 2017 with a little more hope and more confidence than before.”

{There was chaos at Bulyansime village in Igombe Sub County in Iganga District when police stormed a wedding ceremony and foiled the marriage of a 15-year-old girl and a 22-year-old man.}

The ceremony which had kicked off with excitement as the groom expected to take the bride home turned into a fiasco when police swung into action and arrested the parents and the groom.

The girl is said to have dropped out of senior two and she is currently four months pregnant.

The parents Abdu Kalimu Ngobi and Faridah Kagoya are said to have agreed to marry off their daughter to Talyaka Swaliki after getting Shs 200, 000 and a goat as bride price.

Eye witnesses told Daily Monitor that by the time police stormed the place, the bride and groom had already performed the traditional wedding ceremony locally referred to as Okuwowa and the couple was about to leave.

“The bride and groom were marching to board their waiting car amidst ululations from friends and relatives by the time police arrived. The groom had even put a ring on the bride’s finger as a symbol to confirm that they had been wedded,” Mr Ayub Famba told this reporter.

He said when police arrived, the occasion turned chaotic as relatives and revellers started running away to avoid being arrested.
Speaking to our reporter at Iganga police station, the girl said 18 years and accused police for disrupting their function.
“I am not young and I don’t know why police disrupted our function. I love my husband and. I asked my parents’ permission to get married,” she said.
She asked police to release her parents and the groom such that he takes care of the pregnancy.
The girl’s parents said their daughter was 18 years and had accepted to marry her off at her own request.
“The girl dropped out of school and told us that she wanted to get married to the man who was responsible for her pregnancy and as a Muslim, I had no objection,” said Mr Ngobi.

The groom said he had been in relationship with the girl for two years.

“Her parents asked for a bride price of Shs 200,000, a goat and two gomesi which I paid. They didn’t tell me that she was young,” said the groom.

More drama unfolded when a group of residents stormed Iganga Police Station demanding for the suspects to be released on claims that the girl was old.

Busoga East Police Region Spokesperson, Mr James Mubi said the parents are to be charged with marrying off an underage girl while the groom is to be charged with defilement.

This is the second similar case to be registered at Iganga Police Station in a period of one month after another group of parents were arrested in Buyanga sub county for marrying off a 14-year-old girl.

{President John Magufuli has blasted officials of the Energy and Water Utilities Regulatory Authority (EWURA) for arbitrarily raising electricity tariff by an average of 8.5 per cent.}

He has at the same time also revoked the appointment of TANESCO’s Managing Director, Engineer Felchesmi Mramba, and appointed Dr Tito Mwinuka, former lecturer at the University of Dar es Salaam, as TANESCO’s Acting MD with immediate effect.

Dr Magufuli’s reaction comes a day after the Minister for Energy and Minerals, Professor Sospeter Muhongo, wrote a letter (dated December 31, 2016) directing the EWURA Director General to stop implementation of the new tariffs (planned to start yesterday) until when the government has thoroughly scrutinised the formal report it would receive from the regulator.

Speaking yesterday during a Holy Mass at the Mater Misericordiae Cathedral in Bukoba Municipality, President Magufuli assured Tanzanians that the new tariffs would not come into effect despite EWURA’s announcement.

The president expressed bewilderment over the action by the officials to increase the power tariffs without consulting him, Vice-President Samia Suluhu or the Energy and Minerals Minister.

“Just a few officials at EWURA decided to increase electricity tariffs even without consulting the Minister for Energy and Minerals. This is quite absurd. EWURA cannot increase electricity tariff while the government is working hard to ensure that most people, especially in rural areas, get electricity.

“I’m grateful that the Energy and Minerals Minister ruled out the decision to increase power tariffs. Therefore, there is no power tariffs increase. The few greedy officials should be condemned,” Dr Magufuli said amid applause from the well-attended mass.

Dr Magufuli said it was illogical that as the government was promoting industrial revolution and supply of power to poor people in rural areas yet some people would be thinking about increasing the power tariffs.

In his letter, Prof Muhongo tasked EWURA to inform all stakeholders of the decision (of revoking new power tariffs). According to the minister, he was not aware of the tariffs nor informed by EWURA on the matter, questioning the basis used by the regulator to increase the tariffs despite the fact that the general public had vehemently opposed the move during the public hearings.

In the new tariffs, consumers were to pay 263.02/- per kilowatt hour (kWh) up from 242.34/- currently charged and the increase is set to generate 1.608 trillion/- for the Tanzania Electric Supply Company (Tanesco) to “enable its finance operation costs and undertake capital investment programme’’.

In its application in October, Tanesco had asked the regulator to approve an increase of 18.19 per cent to enable it raise 1.9tri/- as it seeks to expand electricity coverage to 75 per cent of the population by the year 2025.

During public hearings conducted in Mwanza, Mbeya, Arusha, Dodoma and Dar es Salaam, members of the general public were of the view that circumstances which led to tariff decrease in April, 2016, are still the same to date and hence no justifiable grounds for the increase.

Meanwhile, President Magufuli has assured Tanzanians that the Fifth Phase Government was keen to ensure that the majority poor get the best services. He, however, urged them to pray for him and his cabinet as the fight against corruption was enormous one.

“Fellow Tanzanians, as we celebrate New Year, we have to be more united and work harder. I appeal to Tanzanians to offer special prayers to God to enable me to accomplish the big task of serving well the majority poor.

‘’The task of fighting corrupt elements was enormous as it involves big shots,” he said. He made the remarks during the Holy Mass shortly after arriving in Bukoba from Chato, where he was on short leave for Christmas and New Year holidays. He urged Tanzanians to work harder during 2017 taking into consideration that the economy was improving steadily.

He extended his messages to Kagera residents who were devastated by the September 10, 5.9 magnitude earthquake that killed 17 people, adding that the government was with those who lost their relatives and those who got injured during the tremor.

{Kinshasa – The second largest country in Africa, Democratic Republic of Congo is blessed with oil, timber, diamonds and gold but cursed with violence, instability, graft and poverty.}

Here are five facts about DRC following the outcome of talks to defuse its latest crisis:

{{Dynasties and dictators }}

Modern-day DRC was once the personal fiefdom of Belgian King Leopold II from 1885 to 1908, when it became the colony of Belgian Congo.

Civil war broke out almost immediately after independence in 1960.

The country has been run by a string of strongmen, including General Joseph-Desire Mobutu who staged a coup in 1965, renamed the country Zaire, and set up a dictatorial kleptocracy that lasted 32 years.

In 1997 he was toppled by rebel leader Laurent Kabila, who renamed the country the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The current president is Laurent Kabila’s son Joseph, who took over after the presidential guard killed his father in 2001 – going on to win elections in October 2006 and November 2011.

The latest crisis was triggered when Kabila refused to step down on December 20, his last date in office under the constitution.

{{ Africa’s ‘World War’ }}

DRC’s two wars in the late 1990s and early 2000s dragged in at least six African armies and left more than three million dead and 1.6 million homeless, Africa’s deadliest conflict in recent history.

The country’s east has been mired for two decades in ethnically-charged violence as rebels battle for control of its rich mineral resources. Massacres involving machetes are almost monthly occurences and the attackers’ motivations are rarely clear.

The conflicts have left the country awash with weapons and men with military training, but little in the way of prospects.

{{Minerals, timber and meddling }}

DRC has the potential to be one of the wealthiest countries in Africa. It sits on hydrocarbons, tropical timber, gem and minerals – including a third of the world’s cobalt reserves and 10% of its copper – as well as elements essential for making mobile phones and other gadgets.

But competition for the wealth has bred widespread graft, smuggling and mismanagement.

The watchdog group Transparency International ranked it 147th out of 168 countries in its 2015 corruption index.

Rebel militia frequently use illicit gold trading as a source of financing while President Kabila’s family have been found to personally hold more than 120 permits to dig gold, diamonds, copper, cobalt and other minerals, according to corporate documents.

During past conflicts, some foreign powers were found to be illicitly extracting the vast mineral resources, according to UN reports.

Two-thirds of the population live on less than $1.25 a day.

{{Vast and diverse }}

Kabila speaks English and Swahili, but has trouble with French – the country’s official language – and a poor knowledge of lingala, spoken in the capital Kinshasa.

As many as 200 vernacular languages are spoken across DRC meaning that a clear national identity has not materialised since independence, although support for the national football team – the Leopards – transcends linguistic and geographical barriers.

DRC’s scale has also presented numerous challenges to unifying and pacifying the country of almost 70 million people.

The biggest most populous central African country at 2 345000 square kilometres, it is almost as large as western Europe.

Serious underinvestment in the road network means that many parts of the country are all but inaccessible, complicating trade and policing efforts.

River traffic picks up the slack but aviation is complicated by the fact that the country’s dismal air safety record means that several Congolese airlines are banned from landing in western countries.

{{Dynamic lifestyles }}

Reporting of DRC typically focusses on the many crises that rock the country.

But central African country has a vibrant arts scene with several globally recognisable faces.

Congolese “rumba king” Papa Wemba led the Kinshasa music scene for four decades, pioneering a blend of Congolese popular music with electric rock during the 1980s.

Papa Wemba was also known as the driving spirit behind a cult movement known as the “Sape” whose members – young men called the “Sapeurs” -spend huge amounts of money on designer clothes.

Musicians Koffi Olomide and Werrason also enjoy worldwide recognition and acclaim.

{Burundi’s environment minister was shot to death while en route home from a New Year’s celebration early Sunday morning, an act that could exacerbate the country’s nearly two-year political crisis.}

Emmanuel Niyonkuru, 54, the minister for water, environment and planning, was killed around 12:45 a.m. while returning to his home in the Rohero section of Bujumbura, the capital, according to a statement by Pierre Nkurikiye, a spokesman for the national police. He said that a woman who was with Mr. Niyonkuru had been detained for questioning.

President Pierre Nkurunziza called the killing an “assassination” and said on Twitter: “Condolences to the family and to all Burundians. This crime will not go unpunished.”

Violent protests broke out after April 2015, when Mr. Nkurunziza decided to run for a third term, even though the Constitution limits the president to two five-year terms. (The constitutional court ruled that his first term did not count, because he had been elected by members of Parliament and not directly by voters.) He went on to win a new term, in an election that most of his rivals boycotted and that American and European observers described as neither fair nor free.

Hundreds have died in the violence, which has displaced an estimated 300,000 people. The United Nations has warned of summary executions and other crimes that might amount to crimes against humanity, an assertion that Mr. Nkurunziza has rejected. In October, Burundi moved to withdraw from the International Criminal Court, the Hague-based tribunal responsible for investigating war crimes and crimes against humanity, the first country to do so.