AFRICA/DR CONGO - Controversial debate over proposed constitutional amendment

Kinshasa (Agenzia Fides) - The announcement by President Felix Tshisekedi that he will set up a commission next year to draft a new constitution for the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is causing a controversial debate in the country.
"Next year I will appoint a commission made up of people from different sectors of society to draft a new constitution that is adapted to the realities of the Democratic Republic of Congo and no longer hinders the functioning of the country," said the Congolese Head of State during his visit to Kisangani last week.
The central point of the constitutional amendment is the abolition of the limit of two presidential mandates, which gives Tshisekedi the opportunity to run for a third term in the next presidential elections. The current Head of State has already been elected twice and, under current regulations, cannot run in the next presidential elections. The proposal to abolish the two-term limit was already put forward in 2015 by Tshisekedi's predecessor Joseph Kabila, but had provoked opposition from members of civil society and Catholic bishops (see Fides, 16/11/2015). Today, it is Kabila's own party, now in opposition, that is opposing such a constitutional amendment. The former president's opposition alliance "Front commun pour le Congo" (FCC) rejects the draft constitutional amendment "firmly and categorically". Opposition MP Moïse Katumbi also stated that "the constitution will not be changed". "A change to the constitution is very dangerous because it can further destabilize the country in the current situation in which it is unstable," said the Secretary General of the Congolese Episcopal Conference (CENCO), Donatien Nshole, in a television interview. (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides, 28/10/2024)

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