DRC: Kamerhe and Bemba, two heavyweights in a government focused on the 2023 presidential election

Vital Kamerhe and Jean-Pierre Bemba during Pope Francis' visit with Congolese authorities, civil society and the diplomatic corps in the garden of the Palais de la Nation in Kinshasa, DRC, January 31, 2023. © Arsene MPIANA / AFP

Text by: Paulina Zidi Follow

3 min

With the appointments of Jean-Pierre Bemba to the Ministry of Defense and Vital Kamerhe to the Ministry of the Economy on March 24, 2023, the Congolese government has two political heavyweights. Reinforcements in the run-up to the December 20 presidential election in which President Felix Tshisekedi is seeking a second term.

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In the Democratic Republic of Congo, President Felix Tshisekedi reshuffled his government on the night of March 23-24, 2023. An announcement that comes a few months before the presidential election of December 20 and for which the head of state is a candidate for a second term.

Prime Minister Jean-Michel Sama Lukonde has been reappointed, but two heavyweights of Congolese politics are entering this new government team: Jean-Pierre Bemba, former vice-president who spent several years at the International Criminal Court (ICC) before being acquitted in 2018, and Vital Kamerhe, former chief of staff of President Felix Tshisekedi, Sentenced in 2020 to 20 years in prison for embezzlement before being acquitted on appeal in 2022.

► Read also Ministerial reshuffle in the DRC: Bemba to Defense, Kamerhe to the Economy

It had been several months since this reshuffle was announced and expected in Kinshasa, since in reality December and the resignation of several ministers members of the party of Moïse Katumbi, declared candidate for the presidency. His party, Together, was then present in the Sacred Union, the political coalition around President Tshisekedi.

Two heavyweights of the Sacred Union, the coalition around President Tshisekedi

Jean-Pierre Bemba and Vital Kamerhe are two heavyweights in this coalition. Their entry into government seems logical, but it remains a surprise for the former. He was known to be close to the head of state to whom he speaks very regularly according to one of his relatives. In recent weeks, he said he was very concerned about the security crisis in the east of the country and had, a few years ago, proposed to the president a reform of the army. His arrival in the Defence portfolio therefore seems consistent.

For Vital Kamerhe, this is the logical continuation after the end of his disgrace following his acquittal. It should be remembered that before his legal troubles, he was the all-powerful chief of staff of the president and had been in charge of the 100-day program, major works initiated with great pomp by the head of state at the beginning of his mandate. Relatives of Vital Kamerhe even saw him appointed head of government. Finally, he took the Economy but with the rank of Deputy Prime Minister.

The presidential election in the crosshairs

With these two weighty entries in government, it is obviously the presidential election that the head of state has in his sights. The candidacies of Jean-Pierre Bemba and Vital Kamerhe were not totally excluded. Respectively at the head of the Movement for the Liberation of Congo (MLC) and the Union for the Congolese Nation (UNC), the two men have political formations well anchored in the Congolese landscape.

And between them, they represent important regions. The North for Jean-Pierre Bemba and the East of the country for Vital Kamerhe. With an electoral base historically in Kasai, a prime minister of Katanga, President Tshisekedi is weaving his electoral web for the December poll.

► Read also Elections in the DRC: the opponent Franck Diongo calls for an anti-Tshisekedi "front"

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• DRC
• Elections in the DRC
• Félix Tshisekedi
• Jean-Pierre Bemba