DRC : Vital Kamerhe regains his position as speaker of the National Assembly

Vital Kamerhe, moral authority and national president of the political party Union for the Congolese Nation (UNC), was elected speaker of the National Assembly on Wednesday. The population of eastern DRC says they are impatiently awaiting their involvement in resolving the crisis plaguing this part of the vast Central African country.

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In total, 407 national deputies participated in the voting session. Vital Kamerhe was the only member of the pro-Tshisekedi Sacred Union platform to have submitted his candidacy for speaker of the lower house of parliament. He was elected “just four days after a coup in the capital Kinshasa was thwarted by security forces, where his house was attacked by heavily armed men.”

Expectations in the east

Residents of Goma, the capital of North Kivu in eastern Congo, welcomed Mr. Kamerhe’s election. They expect him to prioritize the security situation in the Masisi and Rutshuru regions which have been most affected by hostilities between the regular army and the M23 rebels.

“We welcome this election within the top bureau of the National Assembly. We want Kamerhe to get involved in the return of peace to the east of our country,” said Josué Kabanza, resident of Goma. Several other Congolese from the capital of North Kivu share the feeling with Josué.

At the age of 65 years, he will occupy a position that was entrusted to him from 2006 to 2009, when President Joseph Kabila was in power. Vital Kamerhe is from the South Kivu province in eastern Congo.

Several local and foreign observers describe him as “a man who masters Congolese politics without whose collaboration we cannot reign over the Congo.”

In 2020, then chief of staff to the head of state, he was accused of embezzlement and sentenced to 20 years in prison. He was released a year later and acquitted on appeal in 2022. In March 2023, he returned to the forefront as Minister of the Economy, with the rank of Deputy Prime Minister.

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Felix Tshisekedi (right), leader of the UDPS and Vital Kamerhe (left), leader of the UNC, in Nairobi (Kenya) on November 23, 2018 where they have sealed an alliance… for ten years. REUTERS/Baz Ratner