In the DRC, Jean-Michel Sama Lukonde Kyenge, CEO of Gécamines, appointed to the prime minister
Jean-Michel Sama Lukonde Kyenge, the new Congolese Prime Minister.
© Gécamines
Text by: Sonia Rolley Follow
5 mins
Jean-Michel Sama Lukonde Kyenge, until now Managing Director of Gécamines, the state mining company, has been appointed Prime Minister of the Sacred Union government by President Tshisekedi.
This announcement was made by the president's spokesperson at the Palais de la Nation on Monday afternoon.
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Jean-Michel Sama Lukonde Kyenge, 43, has been officially at the head of the general management of Gécamines since June 3, 2019. But this engineer by training had to wait more than a year to really take office.
His assumption of office is one of the first victories of President Félix Tshisekedi over his predecessor Joseph Kabila and his opposition coalition.
In any case, in the months which followed his arrival at the general management of Gécamines, the now Prime Minister had published several embarrassing mining contracts for those around Joseph Kabila, contracts demanded by civil society.
He is a son of Katanga, the region where Joseph Kabila has found refuge in recent months.
The father of the new head of government of the Sacred Union is Stéphane Lukonde Kyenge, an emblematic figure of Katangese politics who was assassinated in 2001.
Jean-Michel Sama Lukonde Kyenge is a former deputy and Minister of Sports under Joseph Kabila.
He resigned from his post in 2015 to obey the instructions of his party, excluded from the presidential majority for protesting against a possible third term of the former head of state.
Jean-Michel Sama Lukonde Kyenge then campaigned in the opposition under the leadership of the former governor of Katanga Moïse Katumbi.
The criterion of trust
He is a member of the Avenir du Congo party, Dany Banza wing, it is a party that has experienced a split.
Dany Banza is one of the itinerant ambassadors of Félix Tshisekedi, one of the president's men of confidence.
Having confidence in his Prime Minister was the main criterion for Felix Tshisekedi, it is said on the side of the presidency.
Criteria that have evolved over time and with them, the profile of candidates.
Originally, the presidency put forward not only the criterion of confidence, but also the political weight of the Prime Minister, to ensure his inauguration.
According to several sources in the presidency, Moïse Katumbi had been approached with his 69 deputies, but the option had been ruled out, according to the presidency, or the former governor of Katanga had refused, according to his relatives.
Because the trust between the two men, without future rivals in 2023, was not strong enough.
The defectors from the FCC being the most numerous, Felix Tshisekedi would then have considered Bahati Lukwebo, his informant who brought him 41 deputies and who identified the majority of the Sacred Union.
He is one of the first kabilists to have joined him.
He was finally dismissed last week, sent back to the Senate.
"What matters is competence"
For several days, several sources in the presidency announced that the new head of government would be a Katangese ... which may seem all the more surprising given that Félix Tshisekedi has already chosen a native of this region as chief of staff, Guylain Nyembo and that these Key positions have long been divided between different geographic areas.
“
What matters is competence
”, explains a relative of Félix Tshisekedi, adding: “
but it is certain that this shows that Katanga does not belong to the Kabila.
"
Last weekend, militiamen made an incursion into Lubumbashi and the Tshisekedi administration fears unrest there.
Another collaborator of the Head of State believes that the regional balance is preserved: the center has the Head of State, the West the National Assembly, the East will obtain the head of the Senate with Bahati Lukwebo and the South will have the prime minister.
The chief of staff is a simple collaborator of the Head of State, adds this collaborator.
Jean-Michel Sama Lukonde Kyenge is above all someone who seems to have kept good relations with his former colleagues of the FCC of Joseph Kabila and of the Ensemble de Moïse Katumbi who are the two main forces of the Sacred Union.
He is a new face as he is little known and has held few prominent positions.
Another important criterion for the presidency.
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