DR Congo: When you are forced to believe that bitter things are sweet

What you need to know:

The game plan in DRC. Now the game plan is that the West, which has always meddled in rich but disastrous DRC, is to quickly have a point man in power who has the backing of the army. Tshisekedi achieves this through his alliance with Kabila. The next step is to protect him so that he fortifies his position while denigrating his challengers

Postponed so many times, finally, the long awaited election in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) took place. It did not disappoint those who expected nothing. Running in the footsteps of several other post-independence elections in that vast mineral-rich country, indeed the December 30, 2018 poll was a shambles per excellence.
When under pressure, former president for 17 years, Joseph Kabange Kabila, literally handpicked little known Emmanuel Ramazani Shadary to succeed him as candidate for the ruling Front Commun pour le Congo (FCC). Many trained their eyes on Ramazani Shadary thinking that Kabila would rig the election for this stooge and continue working in the background like a puppet master in a circus.
But lo and behold! The election was ‘won’ by Opposition candidate and now new President, Felix Tshisekedi. Kabila quickly and happily handed over peacefully claiming ‘it was the will of the people.’ The Opposition candidate Martin Madidi Fayulu cried fraud. So did the Catholic Church; the nemesis of Kabila in the run-up to the election.
It was so bad that of all people, the African Union, SADC and many other people you would expect not to be surprised that an African election had been stolen, also frowned on the process and the outcome.
But then there was another sad side to it. Commentary started flying in fast and thick about Congo making a ‘turning point’ as for the first time there had been a peaceful transition of power from one leader to another leader. That it was a very good sign for democracy and should be emulated. The good book tells us that “One who is full loathes honey from the comb, but to the hungry, even what is bitter tastes sweet.” (Prov 27:7). Africa and DRC have a huge problem of living with too much failure that we have to force ourselves to see and accept success even where it does not exist.
For instance, if a government brutalises its people, many will be grateful that at least they escaped with their lives unlike in the past when they would be murdered. In case they are killed, their relatives are appreciative that they at least managed to find the body and give it a dignified send-off unlike in the past where people simply disappeared.
Now DRC from the times Belgium was under King Leopold II set their colonial feet in this country to date, has been through so much hell that the Kabila’s shenanigans seem like child’s play. DRC has more than 70 armed groups of militias led by ruthless warlords who carve out territories and engage in illegal mining of minerals. Many of the minerals end up in Western capitals. They rely on slave labour and use sexual violence to cow their subjects. No wonder DRC is now called the ‘rape capital of the world!’
The absence of all-out war after the election serves those who benefit from the illicit trade in minerals for they can continue doing their trade with the absence of the nuisance of war.
Secondly, like most developing countries that are indebted, it is in the interest of international creditors that these countries have a recognised government that is responsible for payment of the national debt.
DRC as of 2017 was indebted to the tune of more than $9.14 billion, which is about 110 per cent of its GDP. If this highly indebted country were to collapse into civil war, there would be problems with payment of interest and debt repayment because the country may easily disintegrate and become another Somalia or Libya.
Now the game plan is that the West, which has always meddled in rich but disastrous DRC, is to quickly have a point man in power who has the backing of the army. Tshisekedi achieves this through his alliance with Kabila.
The next step is to protect him so that he fortifies his position while denigrating his challengers who will be urged to think about peace and stability other than insisting on democracy, which may come with a high cost in terms of civil war and bloodshed.
They will then haplessly call upon the government to institute electoral reforms and respect human rights and the Opposition.
From then on, it will be business as usual until the next election. That in detail is endless wars to protect illegal extraction of minerals many of which end up in the West as blood diamonds, also corruption to cripple the state and weaken it to grant the ruling class leverage over those that they lord it over.
The bloodshed, rape and civil war is not going to stop with this so-called peaceful hand over of power. The spirit that carries the curse of DRC’s mineral wealth is not yet dead and as long as it lives, DRC will only force itself to find tiny victories in an avalanche of losses.

Mr Sengoba is a commentator on political and social issues. [email protected]
Twitter:@nsengoba