DR Congo: Judith Suminwa Tuluka appointed Prime Minister, first woman in this position
In the Democratic Republic of Congo, Planning Minister Judith Suminwa Tuluka was named Prime Minister on Monday, replacing Jean-Michel Sama Lukonde. She becomes the first woman to head a government in this country.
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A woman at the head of government in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Judith Suminwa Tuluka, Minister of Planning, was appointed on Monday 1er April Prime Minister of the country, a little more than three months after the December 20 elections won by outgoing President Félix Tshisekedi.
“I know that the task is big, the challenges are immense, but together (…), we will get there,” she declared on national television just after the announcement of her appointment.
Holder of a master's degree in economics and originally from Kongo Central (west), Judith Suminwa Tuluka succeeds Jean-Michel Sama Lukonde, Prime Minister since February 2021, who resigned on February 21. She is the first woman to hold the position.
Aged around fifty, she will have to implement the commitments of Félix Tshisekedi's second term, in a security context that remains as tense as ever.
War in the East
In power since January 2019, Félix Tshisekedi, 60, was largely re-elected on December 20 for a second five-year term, winning more than 73% of the votes in general elections described as a “sham” by the opposition. The parties supporting him also won more than 90% of the seats in the National Assembly, which gives him complete freedom to pursue his policies.
During the electoral campaign, the outgoing president called on his compatriots to give him a new mandate to “consolidate the achievements” of the first, notably by highlighting free primary education.
He promised to create jobs, diversify the economy and develop agriculture, continue his development plan for deep Congo, protect the purchasing power of households…
Because while having a subsoil immensely rich in minerals, the Democratic Republic of Congo remains one of the poorest nations in the world, with two thirds of its population (around 100 million inhabitants) living below the poverty line. .
The United Nations also estimates that around seven million people are “internally displaced” because of conflicts, particularly in the East, which has been plagued by armed violence for three decades.
From the start of his first mandate, Félix Tshisekedi promised to do everything possible to restore peace, which he failed to do.
The situation has even deteriorated in North Kivu, which has been plagued for more than two years by a new rebellion by the “M23” (“March 23 Movement”), which, with the support of neighboring Rwanda, seized large swathes of the province.
With AFP
Source: France24
