Governors in North Kivu, South Kivu and Ituri
have been welcomed by President Félix
Tshisekedi. Excessed by the resurgence of
violence in the East of the country, they came to
Kinshasa to seek government assistance. They
wish for greater government involvement in
fighting insecurity. A few weeks ago, several
citizen movements in the eastern part of the
country launched a petition to remind the head
of state of his campaign promise: bring peace
back to the east of the country.
Governors from the three provinces met with
President Tshisekedi twice. The last meeting on
Monday even lasted five hours in the presence of
several ministers and focused on the thorny
security issue.
According to several sources, Governors have
obtained from Kinshasa that certain road axes be
rehabilitated, not only to fight insecurity, but also
to promote economic activity.
They would have also obtained government
speed up the process of retrocession by 40 % of
national income to the provinces as provided for
in the Constitution. Some provinces such as
South Kivu accuse up to nine months of arrears.
World Bank officials, Monusco and other
development partners have also been involved in
trade.
New offensives are also planned against several
armed movements, especially in South Kivu.
In a communication from the presidency on
Monday, the Head of State reaffirmed his resolve
to bring peace back to that part of the country.
Dry cuts in budgets
After Eastern Governors, it is the collective of
MPPs who, in turn, wishes to meet with
President Tshisekedi to talk about the difficulties
faced by provincial institutions. Like their
executive colleagues, they want to advocate for
withholding the retrocession of 40 % of national
income dedicated to provinces and other
decentralized bodies. Because today, despite the
promises, delays are increasing, no investments,
low operating budget and unpaid salaries.
Even in light of the latest figures from the
Ministry of Budget, provincial institutions are
right to complain. Apart from Kinshasa, the
capital, North Ubangi and Ecuador, at the end of
July, the other 23 provinces had still not seen
anything from the central government for the
investments planned in the 2020. budget. It must
be said that barely adopted, This budget had
been divided almost by two and the investment
budget of almost half of the provinces had
already been sacrificed on that occasion.
But after more than six months of execution, the
cuts are even tougher. As of July 31, central
government had contributed $ 45 million less
than expected. Cut-ups are also felt in operating
budgets. Only remuneration, mandatory spending,
is officially paid, still according to the Ministry of
Budget.
But Governors complain about several months of
retrocession arrears and say they struggle to turn
their services around. MPPs say they are about
to register their ninth month of unpaid salaries
again, as the government pledged to start
purging these arrears.
This drastic reduction in income transfers
allocated to the provinces is all the more
weighing on those with no own resources. This is
why the collective of provincial deputies is also
advocating for the effective implementation of
the National Equalization Fund. This fund
provided for by the 2006 Constitution was
supposed to balance the income distribution
between rich provinces and poor provinces of
the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
