Maniema Court of Appeal: application for annulment of a conventional tax

Kindu, May 14^th, 2025 (CPA) – A petition for the cancellation of the conventional tax initiated by the provincial authority has been filed with the administrative court of appeal of Maniema, in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo, the initiators of this petition told us on Wednesday. ‘Our application to cancel the conventional tax initiated by the provincial authority, which the Maniema Administrative Court of Appeal found to be irregular, has at last been duly filed with the same court, after we obtained the memorandum of understanding, which was not included in the file’, has declared Albati Bendera, a young opinion leader. He has pointed out that no one knows the content of the memorandum of understanding and that it has not been made public since it was signed by the parties involved. ‘This shows the opaque management of the province (…), while the population whose content is being concealed in the protocol is the one that regularly contributes money to the development of Maniema province’, he has stressed. In his view, the provincial authority’s failure to publicise the memorandum of understanding constitutes a misappropriation of taxpayers’ funds for this provincial development project. He pointed out that the first hearing in his dispute with the provincial government is scheduled for Thursday May 15^th, before placing his trust in the courts to settle the matter and restore the rights of the people.  ACP/