The President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Félix Tshisekedi, left his mark on the high magistracy by attending Wednesday, February 19, the swearing in of the high magistrates he just appointed to reform the justice system, with the priority of fighting anti -corruption.
" There is no doubt that a new era is on the horizon in the management of the judiciary for better justice, fair for all, " the Congolese presidency said in a statement.
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These appointments have raised a lot of hope among human rights defenders who accuse the justice system of being corrupt, slow and ruling at the head of the client.
The Congolese Association for Access to Justice (Acaj) expects a " concrete and rapid fight against, in particular, corruption and serious crimes ".
The DRC ranks 168th out of 180 countries in the corruption perception index established by the NGO Transparency International, in a report made public in late January.
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United States Special Envoy for the Great Lakes, Peter Pham, had stressed that Washington was ready to help the DRC to fight corruption and impunity, by meeting President Tshisekedi and his predecessor in turn Joseph Kabila last week in Kinshasa.
Senior judges of the Court of Cassation (public prosecutor and first president), the Council of State (public prosecutor) and military justice (first president of the High Military Court) very active in the DRC, were sworn in.
The new attorney general at the Constitutional Court, who can indict the head of state, will be sworn in later " before the parliament meeting in congress, " said an adviser to President Tshisekedi.
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These movements take place when investigations are launched into the use of funds allocated to public worksites as part of an emergency program initiated by the Head of State and managed by his close collaborators.
President Tshisekedi is a former opponent, who took office on January 24, 2019. He succeeded Joseph Kabila with the supporters of whom he formed a coalition government. The latter remain the majority in all the other institutions in the country.
