DR Congo to finance presidential polls with internal resources - PM

New Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Bruno Tshibala, has disclosed that he plans to organize the country’s next polls with internal resources.

Tshibala who was recently named PM by President Joseph Kabila was speaking to the AFP news agency on Tuesday on a wide range of issues surrounding the political situation in the DRC.

According to a December 31, 2017, political deal brokered by the Catholic Church, presidential polls had to be held this year to elect Kabila’s successor and the PM post had to be handed to the opposition.

“We will do everything possible to mobilize internal resources to finance the elections,” Tshibala said in Kinshasa. PM Tshibala did not state whether elections were going to be held this year or not.

In February this year, the DRC’s Minister of State in charge of Budget, Pierre Kangudia Mbayi, said the country could not raise the $1.8bn needed to organize the polls.

“It will be difficult to think that we can mobilize 1.8 billion USD this year. At this stage, I prefer to keep a language of sincerity,” he said at a press conference. The $1.8bn amount was arrived at by the Independent National Electoral Commission (CENI). International donors and other partners have yet to make financial commitments to the electoral roadmap. The United Kingdom’s Minister for Africa, Tobias Ellwood, while on a visit to the DRC said the UK’s support will be based on respect for the December 31 agreement.

The deal is believed to be under threat following the withdrawal from the process by the main opposition party.