Kinshasa, April 30th, 2025 (CPA) – Improving effective and inclusive local governance was the focus on Tuesday of a training session for local councilors in Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo, organized by the organization Act for transparent and peaceful elections (Aeta).
‘We have organized training to improve effective and inclusive local governance, to strengthen the capacities and responsibilities of local councilors, but also to raise awareness among civil society players, who must support you in your day-to-day work, and to discuss the role we must play if our democracy is to survive,’ said Roland Mumbala, Secretary General of Aeta.
‘We have strengthened the capacities of local elected representatives in terms of budget monitoring mechanisms and understanding the powers of burgomasters, so that they can fully play their role and assume their responsibilities. They are also responsible for mobilizing resources, as they are the budgetary authority at grassroots level’, he added. Jérôme Bonso, permanent secretary of Aeta, said: ‘We are calling on the authorities to ensure that communal councils are effectively recognized and their rights established. Decentralization, as provided for in our Constitution, must not be confused with the administrative decentralization of 1982’.
He also stressed the importance of decentralization. ‘Today, we are faced with a constitutional requirement. Decentralization is not an option; it is a duty of the State. All players must abide by the law, so that the institutions of decentralized territorial entities can function effectively and legitimately’, said Mr Bonso. Antoinette Lokoum, municipal councilor for Makala, was also invited to speak. She pointed out that, pending the elections for burgomasters, a transitional measure allows the Head of State to appoint them by ordinance.
‘It’s up to us to draw up and initiate the decisions that the municipal executive will apply. We need to know the broad outlines of a municipal budget, because the burgomaster is supposed to come and present the draft budget to the municipal council. It’s up to us to examine this draft, amend it if necessary and adopt it. Then it’s up to the burgomaster to implement it,’ she concluded.