A government official in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has announced that the much-anticipated presidential election may not go ahead after all this year due to the cost of staging such a poll.
The announcement is a bitter blow to the nation’s Catholic bishops who had worked with opposing sides since late in 2016 when President Joseph Kabila indicated that he would not step down after his term-limit of two years expired.
That move caused an outbreak of violence which was only curbed when the bishops managed to keep all parties at the negotiating table towards a New Year’s Eve agreement that promised polling for a new president by the end of this year.
Following the signing of the agreement towards elections, Archbishop Marcel Utembi Tapa of Kisangani issued an appeal to the United Nations for assistance in ensuring the details of the document were met by all sides.
Cost
Citing a cost for polling DRC’s 30 million people at €1.8billion, Budget Minister Pierre Kangudia warned that the nation would not be able to meet that cost in 2017. The minister’s announcement came amid a fresh wave of violence in DRC’s Kasai-Central region, where the military has reportedly been using heavy-handed tactics to quell an uprising by a militia group known as Kamuina Nsapu.
It is alleged that during the most recent clashes, soldiers fired indiscriminately into a crowd, killing 39 women. Since the clashes began on February 9, at least 101 people are thought to have been killed.
Observers are now warning that the apparent efforts of Presdient Kabila to hold onto power will only increase such violent outbreaks.
