The National Assembly declares admissible the report of the PAJ commission on the organic law of the INEC

Kinshasa, May 29^th, 2021 (CPA).- The plenary assembly of the lower house of Parliament declared admissible the report of the Political, Administrative and Legal Commission (PAJ), headed by the deputy André Mbata, elected from Dimbelenge, on the organic law proposal amending and supplementing organic law n ° 10/13 of July 28^th, 2010 on the organization and functioning of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), as amended and supplemented by organic law N ° 13/012 of April 19 2013), known as the Lutundula law from the name of its initiator, the national deputy Christophe Lutundula, currently Deputy Prime Minister in charge of Foreign Affairs. PAJ President André Mbata presented the labor economy reflecting the major options and innovations in the Lutundula law proposed for the sanction of the plenary. He refrained from wanting to depoliticize the Independent National Electoral Commission by declaring that a democracy support institution whose mission is to organize elections cannot be apolitical. According to him, the INEC, which is a political institution par excellence, cannot become the prerogative of pressure groups whose objective is other than the conquest and the exercise of power which would exclude political parties and elected representatives of the people who represent the nation. The independence of the INEC, he said, is therefore relative and functional, adding that this institution cannot be completely independent of the people, nor of the legitimate representatives of the nation. This is the reason why, he noted, the members of the INEC are invested by presidential ordinance, and their designation endorsed by the National Assembly to which the INEC is required to report. Among the innovations, figure in particular the enrichment of the plenary of 5 new members. “Instead of 10 members from the political component, made up of the Majority and the Opposition, your committee has provided for 5 additional members who come from civil society, whereas in the existing text, civil society had not succeeded in this number. It is the plenary assembly of 15 members that will exercise internal control instead of a permanent evaluation committee so as not to unnecessarily multiply the bodies and weigh down the electoral machine « , underlined the president of the PAJ. Responding to questions on the independence of INEC members and their protection from pressure from their mentors, André Mbata said that the new law prohibits them from participating in the activities of political parties or from contributing financially with INEC resources, Like in the past. This also applies to members of the INEC from civil society who cannot continue to assume leadership roles within it, he insisted. Thus, to avoid any form of pressure and guarantee the institution’s good financial governance, the committee requested the resignation of members from their original components as well as the possibilities of effective internal and external control, as well as legal proceedings to sanction acts of mismanagement or financial embezzlement. “And to end impunity, Ceni members are now subject to sanctions by the Council of State. They can be deposed, and at the end of their function, they can also be prosecuted, «he insisted. The ensuing debate focused on securing the staff of the INEC, empowering the functioning of the national executive secretariat, the creation by the public treasury of a special account dedicated to elections and the ban on the various components to remove an already appointed member. A reasonable period of time has been given to national deputies to table the amendments in the rapporteur’s office. The plenary session of the day, which had scheduled the examination and adoption of two bills (the organic law of the INEC and the one on the special social security regime for State Public Agents), did not succeed in exhausting its agenda. ACp/Fng/nig