DR Congo: Dr Dénis Mukwege: ”Our Homeland Is In Danger”

By Badylon Kawanda Bakiman

Dr. Dénis Mukwege, one of the presidential candidates in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is urging his compatriots to join him in changing the dwindling fortunes of the country. From Kikwit, Kwilu province in the south-west of the country, he has just unveiled three major pillars for changing the DRC once elected President of the Republic. For him, the country is in danger. He fielded questions from Pan African Visions.

PAV: Why did you decide to submit your candidacy for the supreme magistracy?

Dr Denis Mukwege: Our homeland is in danger. Because of bad governance, the country imports containers of palm oil. There is no fatality for this country. My candidacy is a commitment to responsibility. Any citizen can be a politician.  The people live at home as if they were foreigners. Our country is humiliated, our country is on its knees. Why should we accept this humiliation? We have to stand up and walk. We must pool our efforts and our intelligence. It's possible, because we have the capacity to do it. Our national anthem tells us to stand up and walk. The country must enjoy what it has. You never respect someone who always has his hand out. We need to create national cohesion. We need real discipline, otherwise we won't make it. Every president is elected for his country, not for anything else.

PAV: What do you plan to do once you've been elected President?

Dr Denis Mukwege: There are three main pillars around which actions will revolve: 1) Putting an end to war; 2) Fighting hunger; 3) Combating anti-values.

 With regard to the first pillar, it should be noted that the situation of insecurity and war that began in the east of the country has been transferred to the west. If I say "Our homeland is in danger", it's because we don't know exactly whose fighting and why, or why they're committing extreme violence? It's all about traumatizing the population and putting them in a situation where they can't cope. There are killings! Inhuman acts are committed. It's as if people can no longer resist. We must put an end to this war.

 As for the fight against hunger, we're going to create "Agricultural Zones". It's all there! Agriculture is the DRC's primary source of wealth. Today, there's a lot of international talk about food autonomy. When you have the capacity to feed your population, you are a power. Unfortunately, the DRC imports everything we consume. The DRC should be the granary of Africa. All the world's great nations base their power on agriculture. We are going to create agricultural banks to increase production. We are going to preserve our forests. Our diaspora brings in over nine billion dollars a year. It's a shame that there are people who don't have enough to eat in this country.

 As for the third level, the fight against corruption, we live as if we have all accepted corruption as a mode of governance. People cheat, falsify documents; people make corruption the basis of everything; people lie; people applaud fraud, etc. I think we're going to fight against all three.

 I think we're going to fight these three things. There will be a whole series of measures to be taken.

PAV: Is there a strategy to improve the business climate?

Dr Denis Mukwege: When you ask foreign entrepreneurs, they tell you that it's virtually impossible to do business in the DRC. In your country, there are a multitude of taxes, and in the end, you don't know what you're paying. Taxes should be clear. Administrative red tape means that many Congolese are unable to do business. We're in a form of slavery in our own country. It's as if we're working for these agents who impose taxes that have no limits. This deteriorates the business climate in our country.

So, we're going to centralize all taxes. We'll know what's going into the state coffers. It won't be a multitude of taxes like today. There are other strategies that I can't go into here.

PAV: Any last words?

Dr Denis Mukwege: I invite all Congolese to join me in changing the DRC. We can't wait for tomorrow. We must act today. In Lingala we say "Lobi te, lelo" (Not tomorrow, but today). Thank you very much!