Tshisekedi pushes for change as allies battle criticism

Augustin Kabuya, the interim president of the UDPS, argued the current constitution is “a curse” for the country and must be reformed.

Delly Sesanga, a member of the opposition has been calling on the Congolese people to stand up “to prevent the coup d’état that the current government wants to perpetrate against the Republic and against democracy by changing the constitution.”

A large part of civil society is opposed to changing the constitution. The Catholic Church called on President Félix Tshisekedi to analyse all the parameters, in particular the country’s “security context.”

The Congolese president recently declared that the current constitution had been drafted abroad, by foreigners, something Sesanga declared as inaccurate, pointing out that the constitution was put to a referendum in December 2005.

Those in favour of reform argue that the constitution itself provides a mechanism for amendments or overhaul.

There are things to review. We’re going to have to agree on what needs to be reviewed and what doesn’t. All this is framed by this Constitution, which, by the way, is a revised Constitution, declared Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) Prime Minister Judith Suminwa from Azerbaijan, where she is attending COP29 summit.

While President Félix Tshisekedi has called for changes, there is no agreement on what should be changed.

The opposition says certain bits should not be touched at all. “We say that Article 220 is the compromise of the whole political and democratic struggle in our country; it must be preserved, and we don’t want a step backwards”, declared Delly Sesanga.

This provision of the Congolese Constitution stipulates that “the republican form of the State, the principle of universal suffrage, the representative form of government, the number and length of terms of office of the President of the Republic, the independence of the judiciary, and political and trade union pluralism may not be the subject of any constitutional revision.”

Martin Fayulu, another opponent, has already launched a series of awareness-raising campaigns against this revision, under the slogan "Changeons Félix Tshisekedi et non pas la Constitution" (Let’s change Félix Tshisekedi, not the Constitution).

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Olivier Kamitatu, spokesman for former Presidential candidate Moïse Katumbi, even believes that touching the Constitution will divide the DRC.

“In this context, his [Félix Tshisekedi’s] stubbornness in wanting to change the Constitution in order to remain in power will formalise the division of the country,” Kamitatu said.

“Due to the irresponsibility and inordinate power appetites of one man, the DR Congo, one and indivisible within its 2,345,000 km² borders inherited from independence, will soon be nothing but a memory. Let’s wake up,” he warned.

In this heated atmosphere, two key allies of President Tshisekedi have kept mum so far.

Jean-Pierre Bemba and Vital Kamerhe have stayed off the debate, raising curiosity. Bemba, 62, was Vice-President of the DRC. Runner-up in the 2006 presidential election, he conceded power to Joseph Kabila after a fierce war in Kinshasa. Some believe he has the ambition to succeed Félix Tshisekedi.

As for Vital Kamerhe, aged 65, he’s waiting for his time to come. The two men signed an agreement in Nairobi which stipulated that Kamerhe would support Tshisekedi in 2018, but that Tshisekedi would support Kamerhe in 2023 as his presidential candidate.

That agreement seems to have been forgotten today, but Kamerhe does not seem to have abandoned his ambition to one day lead the DRC Congo.

Kamerhe is the current President of the National Assembly and remains very cautious. In the past, he ran into trouble and got jailed for financial misappropriation. Then he mended fences with Tshisekedi again, becoming a key player in his administration.

But things may just escalate. On November 13, as head of the National Assembly, he received a petition from a civil society group calling for a review of the presidential term of office and reform of the Congolese justice system.

The National Association of Victims claimed to have collected 100,000 signatures, as required by law, to submit the issue for debate in the National Assembly.

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DRC law requires that for a constitutional reform proposal to be carried out, the initiative must be brought forward by one of the bodies empowered to do so: namely, the President, the Government, each of the Houses of Parliament, or a proportion of the people (100,000 people) expressing themselves through a petition. Finally, the project must be submitted to a referendum.

Current law

The Congolese president hasn’t said, but the opposition believe that a reform of the Constitution could lead the president to seek a new term. Under the current law, Tshisekedi is in his second and final term, due to end in 2028.

“If the people decide that Tshisekedi should remain at the head of the country, no one will oppose him,” said Augustin Kabuya.

Eteni Longondo, another UDPS executive, said earlier last week: “If the Congolese people ask us to add years to a mandate, for example from 5 to 7 or from 5 to 9, that’s up to the Congolese people. But for the moment, we’re not discussing it.”

The debate surrounding constitutional reform has spread beyond the political arena.

Isidore Ndaywell, an intellectual in the DRC, proposed a single nine-year presidential term. According to him, instead of a five-year term renewable once, a single nine-year term could strengthen the president’s control mechanisms and even allow for a mid-term evaluation.

“This would make it possible to regulate the seasonal paralysis of the smooth running of institutions due to election fever, and save the large sums of money that are spent on these elections. It also allows us to focus everyone’s vigilance on strict compliance with this single mandate, which cannot be exceeded,” he asserted.