Gabriel Kyungu Wa-Kumwanza of Katanga Province is seeking 100,000 signatures for a constitutional amendment.
A petition has been lodged in the Democratic Republic of Congo, DRC to get the constitution amended in favour of a federal system of government. Led by the Speaker of the Katanga Provincial Assembly, Gabriel Kyungu Wa-Kumwanza, the move aims to secure 100,000 signatures required to propose such a constitutional change in the national Parliament in the capital, Kinshasa.
Radio France Internationale, RFI yesterday July 4 quoted the pro-President Joseph Kabila leader of the ‘l’Union nationale des fédéralistes du Congo’ (UNAFEC) party as cautioning that he was not seeking the secession of the mineral-rich Katanga Province. Gabriel Kyungu Wa-Kumwanza insisted that the struggle for federalism would be peaceful and would only make use of constitutional means.
Wa-Kumwanza, a former Governor of the province in the nineties, says he is seeking the support of other pro-federalism people in the country, claiming that two thirds of current members of the national Parliament were for the idea. Observers say the idea appears not to enjoy much support in Katanga Province, with some seeing the call as having a hidden agenda.
Katanga has a history of secession. Moïse Tshombe proclaimed its independence on July 11, 1960. The region is home to two Congolese Heads of State – the late Laurent-Desire Kabila who hailed from north of the province, and his son, incumbent President Joseph Kabila.
In a June 2010 interview with Jeune Afrique magazine, Gabriel Kyungu Wa-Kumwanza, 73, argued that the province provides more than 70 per cent of the national budget, but gets little in return. Retrocession does not exceed 10 per cent, he claimed, insisting that his people wanted the fruit of their labour.
Katanga boasts 10 per cent of the world`s copper reserves and 34 per cent of cobalt, a type of uranium used in America’s nuclear programme during the Second World War. It is one of the richest provinces in DRC - alongside oil-rich Bas-Congo in the Southwest.
