DRC President Tshisekedi appoints new prime minister

New DRC Prime Minister together with President Félix Tshisekedi

The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) President Felix Tshisekedi on Monday, February 15, appointed the director general of Gecamines (General Quarries and Mines), the state mining company, Sama Lukonde Kyenge, 43, as the new prime minister. The development comes soon after Sylvestre Ilunga Ilunkamba, a close confidant of Tshisekedi's once-dominant predecessor, Joseph Kabila, resigned from the post on January 28 following a vote of no confidence in the country's parliament.

 Lukonde's appointment, analysts say, should help Tshisekedi install a more loyal cabinet to push through his agenda. In 2015 Lukonde, the son of Stéphane Lukonde Kyenge, a key figure in Katanga politics assassinated in 2001, was minister of youth and sport for nine months.  An engineer by training, he was once a member of the Future of Congo political party.

Ilunga's recent resignation meant that Tshisekedi was free to appoint a prime minister from his own parliamentary majority. In December last year, the Congolese President dissolved the alliance  between his own coalition party Cap for Change (CACH) and that of the former president -The Common Front for Congo (FCC). Since Tshisekedi’s election in January 2019, his government found it difficult to pass and implement important decisions due to the fact that Kabila had the numbers in parliament that blocked and undermined the government's plans.