Joseph Kabila has refused to move out of the presidential villa or, apparently, hand over the presidential plane
mobile-phone airtime and money-changers swinging bags of Congolese francs mill around beneath a billboard in Kinshasa that reads “Kabila forever”. It reminds people that Joseph Kabila, who stepped down in January as president of the Democratic Republic of Congo after 18 years, has not really gone. Though Mr Kabila handed over the sash of office to Félix Tshisekedi, the leader of the main opposition party, he appears still to be calling the shots.
With both houses of parliament in Mr Kabila’s pocket, Mr Tshisekedi is just “renting the seat of power”, says Manya Riche, of the Congo Peace Centre at TexasUniversity. He has little power save for a presidential veto that he can use to block new laws. But this can be overruled by the constitutional court, which is also stacked with Mr Kabila’s loyalists. Moreover, Mr Tshisekedi can be kicked out of office by a two-thirds majority in parliament.
More ominously, Mr Tshisekedi spent four months bickering with Mr Kabila over who should be prime minister. Parliament only appointed someone this week: Sylvestre Ilunga Ilukamba, a 74-year-old former director of a state railway company and a little-known member of Mr Kabila’s party. That it took so long bodes ill.
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