Kinshasa, August 13th, 2021 (CPA).– The first company of independent Congo, created by a decree of the Prime Minister Patrice Emery Lumumba of August 12th, 1960, less than two months after the accession of DRC to the supreme magistracy on June 30th, 1960, the Congolese Press Agency now totals 61 years of existence.
Dean of Congolese public enterprises, now transformed into a public establishment, CPA which has matured over the years, continues to carry, in all corners of the world, the Congolese version of national and international news.
CPA was created by the country’s new authorities out of the ashes of the former colonizers’ news agency, which deliberately altered the facts it reported, thus seriously damaging the new Congolese power.
The purpose of the agency, under the terms of decree number 09/50 of December 3rd, 2009 of Prime Minister Adolphe Muzito, is « to research and disseminate information ». To this end, CPA is responsible in particular « for implementing programs or means of information in writing, by image or sound likely to serve the international credit of the country » and « to focus on particularly to promote the development of the country by means of the information it disseminates”.
Today, CPA, the state’s public media, and the only Congolese press organ with correspondents scattered throughout the national territory and even in the Belgian capital, remains this powerful instrument of communication through which the Congolese authorities are ‘speak loudly and audibly and are done both within national borders and outside the country.
From 1960 to date, CPA has been led by 21 agents, the first being Mathieu Ekatu until the current Managing Director, Professor Lambert Kaboyi.
Each of these managers contributed a stone to the consolidation of CPA, which some call « the cathedral of the Congolese press ». Special mention, however, to the current director general who has boosted the rise of the national press agency.
Several facts attest to this. Without being exhaustive, it can be noted that already in 2020, the efforts of the General Director Kaboyi have enabled CPA to position itself in fourth place, in terms of production of the national agencies members of the Atlantic Federation of African News Agencies (FAAPA) headquartered in Rabat, Morocco.
These same efforts have enabled CPA to tie in firmly to new information and communication technologies and to have one of the most reliable, most visited and regularly updated websites.
Thanks to the magic of the internet, the central editorial staff of CPA now works in real time with correspondents in the provinces and abroad in order to deliver reliable information to the public in good time.
History will also remember that it was under the mandate of Professor Lambert Kaboyi that CPA effectively became a multimedia agency with the launch of “CPA TV” service which produces videos in real time covering all the social news political and cultural. These videos are now increasingly invading both audio-visual media and social networks in DRC.
Although not having the means of his policy, this manager drew on his creative know-how to produce for CPA a physical four-color newsletter which is the pride of the Congolese print media today.
In short, CPA is undoubtedly standing today and is only looking for a minimum of logistical means to further contribute to the national and international influence of the country.
ACP /