President Félix Tshisekedi has appointed new directors to head several public companies, including Générale des Carrières et des Mines (Gécamines).
At Gécamines, Congolese mining giant, Albert Yuma, has been replaced by Alphonse Kaputo Kalubi as chairman of the board, according to this decision dated Friday and read Saturday on public television.
Close to Prime Minister Jean-Michel Sama Lukonde, Mr. Kaputo is a retired former Gécamines executive.
66-year-old businessman, who made his fortune in textiles, Albert Yuma is close to former President Joseph Kabila, whose political family has been subjected to an offensive by President Tshisekedi since December 2019.
Also president of the Federation of Congo Enterprises (FEC), a powerful employers' union in the DRC, Mr. Yuma was appointed head of Gécamines in 2010 by Mr. Kabila.
Mr. Yuma was also a slayer of foreign NGOs like Global Witness, which argued in 2017 that $ 750 million had been embezzled from Gécamines funds at the end of the Kabila years (January 2001 - January 2019).
At the end of 2020, the re-election for the sixth consecutive time of Mr. Yuma at the head of the employers' union FEC had been challenged as never before in court by his rival.
First sidelined, Mr. Yuma was then reinstated as president of the FEC a few weeks later by a court ruling.
© 2021 AFP