Kinshasa, May 22nd of 2023.

After receiving the DA nomination for the Presidency, Moïse Katumbi launched his presidential campaign, and he started visiting as many cities as he could. Beginning in Kinshasa, Katumbi did a major speech on human rights in the DRC, and talked about his plans for anti-corruption; more specifically, he mentioned that he would be developing a nation-wide police force capable of hunting and prosecuting corruption in the DRC, and that he would be in direct, constant communication with the United Nations to work on a framework for human rights in the DRC.

The speech was livestreamed on-line and was also recorded for national television, with RTNC, RTGA and RTKAS all broadcasting it. The rally, with hundreds if not thousands of people, Katumbi stood on the podium and said the following:

“When I got nominated in March, I couldn’t believe my happiness; this nomination is providing me a chance to truly bring chance to the DRC, to fight for a better world, and to bring to the world our goods, our culture, our history; there’s a lot of possibilities for the future of the DRC at the moment, and I want to bring forward a lot of cooperation with international powers such as the US, France, Italy; and I want to bring a major focus on eliminating corruption from the DRC, with plans for publicized tax returns, a more transparent government administration and a large framework for new anti-corruption laws, which will really allow the DRC to rise in the international scenery as a reliable international partner.”

Katumbi then went on from Kinshasa and toured, from May to August, every province in the DRC; with visits to schools, clinics, universities, and even government buildings in order to talk to the local officials. He was interviewed by essentially, every local media that he toured, and he has announced that he will spend September touring the rural areas of the DRC, in order to meet the local farmers and discuss with them how he can improve their situations with mechanized, modern equipment.

Katumbi also gained a lot of traction after receiving endorsements from Seth Kikuni, Marie-Josée Ifoku, and Martin Fayulu; all of these are influential politicians who are going to provide a major boost for Katumbi in the coming election.

The Kabilists

The PALU, or the Unified Lumumbist Party, has nominated Adolphe Muzito for the election; and he has come at full force, with as much backing from his party as possible, to start gathering support for the Kabilists.

He went to the Kivu region and brought light on the mismanagements of the Congolese government; he accused Katumbi of praising Félix’s actions in the Kivu region even though that, after the peace accords, the Kivu region is still, essentially, the fiefdom of many disparate groups who run them without central government administration because of the lack of infrastructure. Adolphe mentioned that his first policy will be to invest heavily into the Kivu region and to prosecute the criminals that are currently abusing of the lack of government control to proliferate “their nefarious causes”.

Joseph Kabila has endorsed Muzito and has said that he has “endless trust” on his policies, and believes that Muzito is going to be responsible for a major revitalization of the DRC in the future, as he attracts further investors, especially from France, and Europe in general.

Adolphe has also pledged to conclude the investigation on the attempt on Katumbi’s life; Muzito personally believes that the shooter had no previous affiliation with any of the political groups in the DRC, and acted alone, even in the face of overwhelming evidence indicating the contrary.

Henri Mova, of the PPRD, has endorsed Muzito, which shows to political experts that Kabila is betting all of his cards into Adolphe, which may prove itself harmful; the public’s opinion of the PPRD, especially after the attempted murder, is low, and that may drag down his chances of winning the election.

Conclusion

Along with Muzito and Katumbi, the MLC has already mentioned that it will align itself with the DA, because part of the coalition’s efforts to win seats is for candidates to drop out of local elections where they are polling behind to ensure a victory. All the parties are slowly, but surely, aligning already with their favored politicians. The spotlight is, at the moment, focused on Katumbi, who is throwing a lot of force towards gathering support for his election. He has been building a steady, reliable reputation as a good entrepreneur and a good politician, while the Kabilists have been chipping away at their own popular support after overthrowing the anti-corruption bill on the National Assembly, and the claims of attempted murder of a vocal dissident, Moïse Katumbi.

Regardless, the final result will only be seen on December of 2023, when the votes are counted and verified by the electoral observers, and the UN-trained electoral commission in the DRC. Félix Tshisekedi has said that he has utmost faith on the electoral commission, and that this election will possibly be “the most important election in the history of our nation.”