“Has the governance of the DRC changed? Not really if we are to believe the Court of Auditors”, writes the magazine Young Africa. The tone is set. After the accusations of corruption brought against Joseph Kabila and his clan, it is his successor Félix Tshisekedi who is in the hot seat. Our colleagues were able to obtain two reports from the country’s court of auditors, which point to severe slippages.
The court reports Young Africa, recently looked at the use of 363.2 million dollars allocated by the IMF to fight the Covid-19 epidemic. An account was thus opened at the Central Bank of Congo, supposed to cover the urgent needs of the Ministry of Health as part of anti-Covid actions. Of the 50.7 million dollars placed in this account, just over 31 millions were redistributed without respecting the procedure. The use of funds was neither justified nor regularized.
However, many took advantage of it, the services of the presidency for nearly 15 million, up to those of the National Assembly for 4 millions. A shame, the worst served was the Ministry of Health which obtained less than 2 millions of dollars !
The Court of Auditors has two men in the crosshairs. Doctor Roger Kamba, special adviser to Félix Tshisekedi in matters of health, and Eteni Longondo ex-Minister of Health.
Hospitals that had received grants to provide free health care still charged for procedures. Orders, including tests, have never been executed “despite the disbursement of state funds”.
Eteni Longondo was briefly jailed in August 2021 for these acts of embezzlement. The General Inspectorate of Finance accuses him of having embezzled 7 million dollars, falling “the absence of supporting documents for expenditure”. What the person denies fiercely, evoking bonuses and overpayments, even as the investigation continues.
This report from the court of accounts gives credit to all the suspicions of corruption relayed by Congolese public opinion for months. And this is the second time that the court has pointed out the shortcomings of President Tshisekedi’s administration. Previously, the organization had noted slippages in the execution of the 2020 finance law.
All this tarnishes the image of Félix Tshisekedi who, since coming to power, has repeatedly said that governance must be changed. The Observatory of Public Expenditure, a Congolese NGO that dissects national budgets, asks the courts “to seize ex officio reports from the Court of Auditors for in-depth investigations.”