Kinshasa, May 28th, 2025 (CPA).- The release of substantial funds to the National Equalisation Fund (CNP) to correct the imbalance in development between provinces has never been effective, according to the general director of the said public service, responding on Wednesday to an oral question before the plenary assembly of the Senate. « The Organic Law provides that the National Equalisation Fund shall be endowed with the financial resources necessary for its operation and for the financing of investment projects and programmes. Despite this clearly expressed intention of the legislator in the Finance Act, which provides for the allocation of substantial funds to the provinces, the release of these equalisation funds has never been effective, » has lamented Coco-Jacques Mulongo, general director of the National Equalisation Fund (CNP). In his response to the oral question with debate addressed to him by the Senator Michel Lingepo, Mr Mulongo has declared that since its creation, the CNP has never benefited from any disbursement of financial resources in its favour under the equalisation fund. ‘The National Equalisation Fund continues to face difficulties exacerbated by the irregular allocation of equalisation funds to sectorial ministries such as the Ministries in charge of Planning, Agriculture, Rural Development, Fisheries and Livestock,’ he has emphasised. And to continue: ‘The CNP has planned to finance several public investment projects that could contribute significantly to the development of basic socio-economic infrastructure, but the major constraint undermining the operationalization of this fund is the failure to make equalisation funds available to it, thus preventing it from financing public investment projects and programmes and therefore from fulfilling its mission.’
In his oral question with debate, and in accordance with the provisions of Article 166(2) of the Rules of Procedure of the Upper House of Parliament, the Senator Lingepo wanted to know more about the functioning and financing of the National Equalisation Fund’s public investment projects and programmes, with a view to ensuring national solidarity. Mr Lingepo wanted to understand, through his oral question, how the public treasury budget allocated to this fund each year, amounting to ten per cent of the total national revenue accruing to the State, was being used. ‘Since the CNP was effectively established, we have the impression that this institution is not fulfilling its role, and we are witnessing a deplorable imbalance in development between the provinces, both in the channelling of projects and in the construction of development infrastructure, in terms of the balance between the provinces and the ETDs,’ it is read in the explanatory note from the author of the oral question. Several other questions and concerns, totalling 22 interventions, have punctuated this plenary session of the Senate, which, for the first time, has targeted a public enterprise manager, at least for the current legislature. Some interventions have tended to call for the questioning of the national Minister in charge of Finance, who is believed to be behind this deadlock. A dead line of 48 hours has been granted to the general director of the National Equalisation Fund by the Senate bureau to return and address the concerns of the provincial elected representatives.
What about the CNT?
The National Equalisation Fund is a public law institution created by Article 181 of the Constitution of February 18th, 2006, as revised to date. It was established by Organic Law No. 16/028 of November 8th, 2016. Its mission is to finance public investment projects and programmes with a view to ensuring national solidarity and correcting the imbalance in development between the provinces and decentralised territorial entities (ETDs).