Kinshasa, April 22nd, 2026 (CPA).- A strike by employees and managers of the public city administration of Kinshasa, capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, has begun on Wednesday to protest against non-payment of salaries, CPA has learned from union sources. “We have just begun our strike. As you can notice, the services have been sealing off their offices since dawn. The employees have deserted their posts, tired of waiting for unpaid salaries that still haven’t arrived. The pay has become a real taboo,” has declared David Delord Luyeye, president of the inter-union coalition of the Kinshasa urban administration. “The images you see show the former provincial government building. Today, this building houses several ministries, including Transport, Finance, Budget, Mines, Tourism, and Humanitarian Action.
It also houses several revenue-generating divisions as well as the city’s public accounting office, but it is currently sealed off and blocked,” he has added. According to him, the employees have decided to resist by ceasing all activities. “The movement is very real and is not limited to this site; throughout the city, several departments are in the process of closing their offices,” has concluded Mr. Luyeye.
In a statement consulted on Tuesday, the inter-union coalition of Kinshasa’s urban public administration has demanded, among other things, eight months of back pay for administrative staff in 2025, ten months for political staff, as well as payment arrears for the months of January, February, and March 2026. It has therefore declared an “unlimited strike” effective from Wednesday, April 2nd, 2026, until further notice. Additionally, on April 15th, the provincial minister in charge of the civil service, Jesus-Noel Sheke, had received a delegation from the inter-union coalition as part of a consultation process aiming to deactivate this movement. A truce had been secured until Tuesday, April 21st, to allow the provincial executive to review the demands made.