Kinshasa, May 22nd, 2025 (CPA) – A delay of 48 hours has been granted on Thursday to the Deputy Prime Minister in charge of the Interior, at the National Assembly of the Democratic Republic of Congo, to respond to the concerns of the deputies on security, during the plenary session devoted to the general debate on the oral question of an elected representative.
‘The Deputy Prime Minister in charge of the Interior has requested a 48-hour postponement to prepare his answers, and on behalf of this august assembly, we are granting the request’, has declared Jean-Claude Tshilumbayi, First Vice-President of the National Assembly of the Democratic Republic of Congo, presiding over the plenary session.
Jacquemain Shabani has previously requested this delay, to enable him to prepare his answers to the various questions submitted to him by the national deputies, particularly in relation to security throughout the national territory.
‘We have taken care to note the various concerns raised. Given the technical nature of the issues raised and the need to meet the legitimate concerns of the people’s elected representatives, we are requesting a postponement of at least 48 hours’, has declared Jacquemain Shabani. During his speech to the nation’s elected representatives, the Deputy Prime Minister in charge of the Interior has reassured them of his firm determination, since his accession to the head of this ministry, to carry out an audit and control of the police file in order to fight against fictitious officers.
‘There is an internal audit mechanism in place to regularly assess the strength of the Congolese National Police and root out fictitious or unregistered officers. This internal audit and manpower evaluation mechanism is one of the regalian missions of the General Inspection of the Congolese National Police », has said Jacquemain Shabani.
‘Pending the adoption by the National Assembly of the programming law for the implementation of the reform of the Congolese National Police for the period 2025-2029, the unannounced checks are being carried out to get hold of all those elements who go out of their way to harass the population, to perpetrate arbitrary operations and to violate the fundamental rights and freedoms of citizens’, he has continued. In addition, several other questions have been addressed to the Deputy Prime Minister in charge of the Interior.
The deputy Acile Madiya, who represents the Bolomba constituency in Equateur province in the north-west of the country, has in particular raised the issue of the harmonisation of almonds at village and market level, as well as at the barriers where police officers and the services of the General Direction of Migration (DGM) operate. ‘Mr President of the National Assembly, I would like to know from the Deputy Prime Minister, Minister in charge of the Interior and Security, when almonds will be harmonised at village level and at the markets located at the barriers between police officers and the services of the General Direction Migration (DGM)’, she has said.
‘We note in the provincial city of Kinshasa several cases of arbitrary arrests, and even the virtual non-existence of officers of the Congolese National Police in some areas’, has, for his part, deplored the deputy Boris Mbuku. Gode Mpoyi, elected representative of the electoral district of Funa in Kinshasa, has in his turn deplored the bad practice of police officers of ‘door-to-any-vehicle’, which only targets personal vehicles. The Deputy Prime Minister has presented, on Thursday May 15th, to the national deputies, the draft programming law for the reform of the Congolese National Police for the period 2025-2029, estimated at USD 2.3 billion.
Following the presentation, the plenary has declared this project admissible. This is at the end of that presentation that an oral question with debate on security throughout the country has been addressed to the Minister.