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Martin Fayulu, the real winner of the Congolese presidential election in December 2018, observers criticize the West’s cynicism about Congo.
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There is nothing to celebrate with 60 years of independence in Congo. That is the message Martin Fayulu writes in an opinion contribution in the British business newspaper Financial Times. “Eighteen months after a stolen election, the country continues to tread on the spot.”
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Pro memoria: Fayulu is the man who, according to just about all external observers, such as the Congolese Catholic Church and the Financial Times, had won the December 2018 presidential election by street lengths. Instead, a deal came between outgoing ruler Joseph Kabila and number two, Félix Tshisekedi.
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Kabila has declared a majority in the two chambers of the parliament and most of the provincial parliaments. This has put Tshisekedi under guardianship of Kabila.
Martin Fayulu
Congolese opposition member
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A deal that, according to Fayulu, actually kept Kabila in power. Kabila has now declared a majority in the two chambers of the parliament and most of the provincial parliaments. This has put Tshisekedi under tutelage of Kabila. ” All the president does is “appoint dozens of special advisers as ministers,” making “an overly expensive government even more swollen.”
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Cynicism
Fayulu criticizes the cynicism of the West, which accepted manifest electoral fraud as “good enough” for Congo. “An attitude that stems from the outdated notion that Africans would not be able to choose their leaders freely.” Fayulu notes that Africans participate in this: “I will never forget how the President of Kenya urged me to accept the position of Vice President, even if that position does not even exist in our constitution.”
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According to Fayulu, acceptance of electoral fraud condemns Congo to persistent stagnation, a constant over the past 60 years. “Don’t forget that in 1960 Congo was more prosperous than South Korea or Thailand.” But it is also a mistake for the West to think that the problems do not concern him. “The price of the status quo is great, both in terms of climate, due to the destruction of our rainforests and the northward migration of our people.”
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The price of the status quo is high, both in terms of climate, due to the destruction of our rainforests and the northward migration of our people.
Martin Fayulu
Congolese opposition member.
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Belgian-Congolese professor Jean Omasombo also says that the letter from King Filip is a missed opportunity by addressing it to the president. “The king had regretted the Congolese people much better. For almost a century and a half that people have been suffering all their misery, from Leopold’s Congo Free State to the present day. “
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Omasombo also underlines that Kabila is still handing out the sheets. “Kabila is Mobutu’s peer in terms of kleptocracy.”
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