DR Congo: Appointed Judith Suminwa Tuluka as the first female Prime Minister to the post

Published on: 01/04/2024 – 21:42

2 minutes

A woman as head of government in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Judith Suminwa Tuluka, Minister of Planning, was appointed on Monday 1^er April has been the country’s prime minister for a little more than three months after outgoing president Felix Tshisekedi won the December 20 election.

“I know the task is big, the challenges are immense, but together (…), we will get there,” she announced on national television shortly after her appointment was announced.

Judith Suminwa Tuluka, holder of a master’s degree in economics and originally from Congo Central (West), replaces Prime Minister Jean-Michel Sama Lukonde from February 2021, who resigned on 21 February. She is the first woman to hold this position.

At around fifty, she will have to implement the commitments of Felix Tshisekedi’s second term, in a security context that remains as tense as ever.

War in the East

In power since January 2019, Felix Tshisekedi, 60, was re-elected by a majority on 20 December to a second five-year term, winning more than 73% of the vote in general elections described as a “sham” by the opposition. Parties supporting him also won more than 90% of the seats in the National Assembly, giving him complete freedom to pursue his policies.

During the election campaign, the outgoing president called on his compatriots to enact a new mandate to “consolidate the achievements” of the first, particularly by highlighting free primary education.

He promised to create jobs, diversify the economy and develop agriculture, continue his development plan for deep Congo, protect the purchasing power of households…

Because despite the subsoil rich in minerals, the Democratic Republic of Congo is one of the poorest nations in the world, with two-thirds of its population (about 100 million inhabitants) living below the poverty line.

The United Nations also estimates that nearly seven million people are “internally displaced” by conflicts, particularly in the east, which has been plagued by three decades of armed violence.

From the beginning of his first mandate, Felix Tshisekedi promised to do everything possible to restore peace, which he failed to do.

The situation is even worse in North Kivu, which has been plagued for more than two years by a new insurgency by the “M23” (“March 23 Movement”), which, with the support of neighboring Rwanda, took control of large parts of the province. .

with AFP