DRC: Vital Kamerhe summoned by the prosecution, his party denounces "relentlessness"

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Cabinet director Félix Tshisekedi was summoned by the public prosecutor's office to the Kinshasa court which is investigating the alleged misappropriation of funds allocated to the Congolese president's emergency program. Vital Kamerhe monitors the execution of this work. Several arrests took place last March, leaders of private and public companies were even sent to prison before being released.

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With our correspondent in Kinshasa, Pascal Mulegwa

The summons worried those close to Vital Kamerhe . Ministers, advisers to the president and other cabinet members gathered on Sunday to denounce what they call " relentlessness " and " demonization campaign " against their leader aimed at destabilizing the presidential coalition.

The UNC " ready to assume the battle that opens "

Vital Kamerhe did receive the invitation, which unfortunately suffers from some material errors. “ The UNC (Union for the Congolese Nation) protests against the serious lightness with which this invitation was sent for the following reasons: not having had regard to its rank; the invitation has been deposited at an address other than that listed on it; the invitation was issued on April 3, 2020 to appear on March 6, 2020, "said Gabin Lulendo, spokesperson for the UNC, at the end of the political bureau meeting.

►Also read: Case of the 15 million dollars in the DRC: discomfort at the presidency

The UNC says it is " ready to assume the fight that opens " and ensures that it will " not bend over ." The party reaffirms its attachment to the coalition with President Tshisekedi. A coalition resulting from an agreement " without which Cach (Cape for change) would not have emerged and would therefore not have come to power ".

According to this agreement, it is Vital Kamerhe who must be the dolphin of Félix Tshisekedi in the presidential election of 2023, recalls the entourage of the chief of staff.

Will Kamerhe honor his invitation ?

If the party attests that Vital Kamerhe cannot be summoned by the Matete public prosecutor's office, the opinion of the prosecutor is quite different: any official can be summoned for information during the investigation phase.

Sunday evening, the bodyguard of the chief of staff declared that he would not respond to the said invitation.

Last February, Félix Tshisekedi himself denounced the " threats and manipulations " which would be the subject of the magistrates involved in the investigation.

Those arrested were, according to the Head of State, victims of ill-treatment with the sole aim of extracting confessions from them. The magistrates would seek to sink Vital Kamerhe, according to the lieutenants of this last.

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