DR Congo: Tshisekedi Appoints First Female Prime Minister  

By Badylon Kawanda Bakiman

Judith Tuluka Suminwa, 56, is now head of government in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Central Africa. This is the first time in the country's history that a woman has held the office of Prime Minister. She will oversee President Tshisekedi's second term in office.

Judith Tuluka was appointed Prime Minister on Monday, April 1, 2024, by a presidential decree signed on the same day and broadcast on Congo's national radio and television station in the evening. She replaces Jean-Michel Sama Lukonde, who spent two years and eleven months at the head of the government.

Previously Minister of Planning in the Sama Lukonde II government, she was one of three women to hold a position in this administration.

"I know the task is great, the challenges are immense, but together (...) we'll get there. This act confirms the positive masculinity advocated by President Félix Tshisekedi", she declared shortly after her appointment.

Born on October 19, 1967 in the province of Kongo-Central. She is married with two children: a son (aged 23) and a daughter (aged 19) at the time of her appointment.

A graduate in accounting from the École de promotion et de formation continue (EPFC) in Brussels (Belgium) and holder of a master's degree in applied economics from the Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB), she worked in the banking sector before joining UN agencies, including the UNDP, where she became a national expert in a community support project in the east of the country. She then worked in the cabinet of the Ministry of the Budget before becoming deputy coordinator of the Conseil présidentiel de veille stratégique (CPVS). As a technocrat, she also played a major role in the implementation of the local development program for 145 territories, a project initiated by the Head of State.

She takes office in a tense security context in the country, with the intensification of fighting in North Kivu, notably against the M23 rebel group. 

Her appointment as Prime Minister was welcomed and encouraged by several human rights organizations and members of her political family, the Union for Democracy and Social Progress (UDPS).