It is the oldest trick in politics; whenever a leader fails to deliver, the hunt for a scapegoat is launched. That has been Congolese ruler Felix Tshisekedi’s playbook from day 1.
But former DRC president Joseph Kabila did not mince his words in his speech of Friday night about this behavior by his successor. Kabila made it clear that in an effort to hide his failures, Tshisekedi started conflicts targeting Swahiliphones and other minorities.
In the 45-minute speech, the former DR Congo head of state delivered a damming assessment of Tshisekedi’s rule, and categorically called for an end to his disastrous regime.
About six years ago Kabila peacefully handed Tshisekedi a relatively stable country despite its post-conflict configuration. The Democratic Republic of Congo was governed in a delicate balancing act to secure diverging local interests after a prolonged war ended in a power sharing agreement.
However, Tshisekedi’s first order of business was to exclude all other Congolese communities (in favor of his Kasai Luba community) in an effort to secure absolute. To achieve this, Tshisekedi deliberately divided his country along ethnic lines, created militias, and recruited mercenaries, to attack and ethnically cleanse certain Congolese – specifically Tutsi communities of the east (and others categorized as “Swahilophones) .
Kabila listed all catastrophic failures of his successor and denounced the unprecedented level of corruption, nepotism, hate speech and the blatant destruction of democratic institutions.
“The Democratic Republic of Congo is no longer democratic”, he said and added that Swahiliphones were targeted by Tshisekedi’s security forces. He also illustrated how dangerous Tshisekedi was for the entire Great Lakes region, by forging alliance with terrorist groups like FDLR and his reckless disregard for regional security mechanism.
After exposing Tshisekedi’s primary role in creating chaos, despair and civil war, Joseph Kabila called for a 12 point “national pact” to remove Tshisekedi and revive democracy in Congo indicating his return to active politics.
The speech flies in the face of Tshisekedi’s propaganda that Congo is destabilised by external factors, it clearly proves the internal underpinnings of the current situation in Congo.
In essence, despite the intense propaganda and scapegoating, Tshisekedi failed to deliver, and opted to capture the state of Congo.
Unsurprisingly, Joseph Kabila’s call for the Congo to be liberated from the shackles of Tshisekedi’s brutal, nepotistic dictatorship resonates with a vast majority.
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