Kinshasa, May 27th, 2925 (CPA).- ‘We need to strike a balance between security and development. The country must continue to function’, the Prime Minister said on Tuesday in Tshikapa, in the province of Kassaï, in the center of the Democratic Republic of Congo, during an inspection visit to several strategic sites in the province. ‘We are facing a war in the east of the country, which is considerably reducing our budget. At the last Council of Ministers meeting, we adopted a rectifying finance bill that will be submitted to the National Assembly. We have lost 1.7% of our budget and increased spending on security. We need to strike a balance between security and development. The country must continue to function’, said Prime Minister Judith Suminwa. The Head of Government reiterated her commitment to keeping the State running under the leadership of the President of the Republic, despite the many challenges, particularly in terms of security.
During her stay in this part of the country, the Prime Minister visited the Loange Bridge, a crucial piece of infrastructure linking Kasai province to Kwilu province, which is currently threatened by flooding from the Tobi River. ‘The Loange bridge was built with retaining walls, but no thought was given to reinforcing them. These walls have now been washed away. We therefore need to mobilise funding to consolidate them in order to save this bridge, which is cruelly in need of maintenance. We see this kind of situation all over the country. It’s time to act, otherwise we risk losing everything’, she said, before praising the efforts of the governor and the OVD, who have succeeded in containing the erosion here.
Listening to the concerns of the population, the Prime Minister assessed the damage and promised to work towards lasting solutions to preserve this vital link to open up the region. She stressed the importance of guaranteeing the continuity of the work and undertook to ensure that the necessary funding would be made available. In addition to the Loange Bridge, the Prime Minister also visited the Tshikapa general referral hospital and the Kanzala health zone, to get a first-hand feel of the difficulties faced by the local population.
She noted a lack of equipment and specialist doctors, as well as problems with the remuneration of medical staff. ‘I visited two health facilities. The problem here is that the RN1 is the source of many accidents, but the hospitals are not equipped to deal with them. No scanners, no specialists. I’m going to discuss this situation with the Minister of Health to see what can be done,’ she said.
Remuneration of doctors, nurses and civil servants discussed
The Prime Minister visits the various construction sites
The Prime Minister also promised to look into the issue of remuneration for doctors, nurses and civil servants, some of whom are not yet mechanized. ‘Free maternity as part of universal health cover is a good start. But we also need to resolve other hospital challenges. I will be raising these issues with the relevant ministers in Kinshasa’, she reassured.
Judith Suminwa also visited the work underway to combat the erosion heads at the Socajic site, which have destroyed several homes. She also inspected the Tshikapa-Kamako road and the Likasi road, both part of the Tshilejelu project. She gave assurances that she would be closely monitoring their completion, before ending her tour at the construction site of the Kasai Provincial Assembly headquarters.