State structure
The February 18, 2006 Constitution
The Democratic Republic of Congo is currently governed by the latest constitution, promulgated on February 18, 2006. It establishes the DRC as an independent, sovereign, united, indivisible, social, democratic and secular state governed by the rule of law. Underpinned by a semi-presidential regime. The institutions of the Republic, as set out in Article 68, are embodied by the President of the Republic, the Government, Parliament, the Courts and Tribunals.
The President of the Republic
The Constitution stipulates that the President of the Republic is the Head of State, elected by direct universal suffrage for a five-year term, renewable once only. He appoints the Prime Minister from the parliamentary majority. But he also has his own prerogatives. The regulatory acts he signs are covered by the Prime Minister, who takes responsibility for them before the National Assembly. The latter can sanction the Government by adopting a motion of censure.
The Government
The Government is made up of the Prime Minister, Deputy Prime Minister, Ministers of State, Ministers, Ministers Delegate and Vice-Ministers. The Prime Minister is responsible for implementing the law. He has regulatory power, with the exception of those prerogatives reserved for the President of the Republic.
The Parliament
Parliament is made up of two chambers: the National Assembly and the Senate. Parliament passes laws. It controls the government, as well as portfolio companies, public establishments and services. Although Senators represent their provinces, their mandate is national. They are elected by the provincial assemblies for a five-year term, and may be re-elected, just like the deputies.
The judiciary
The Constitution also proclaims the independence of the judiciary. Its members are managed by the Conseil Supérieur de la Magistrature, composed exclusively of magistrates. The courts and tribunals, according to their respective missions, are answerable to three jurisdictional orders: the Cour de Cassation, the Conseil d'Etat and the Cour Constitutionnelle.
Decentralization
Territorial decentralization is enshrined in the Constitution with a view to consolidating national unity. Since 2015, the administrative division of the country into 26 provinces, including the city-province of Kinshasa, has been effective. Each province has its own Provincial Assembly and Government. The provinces and other decentralized entities (city, commune, sector and chiefdom) " enjoy free administration and autonomy in the management of their economic, human, financial and technical resources ". Even if, in practice, some provinces are better endowed than others, which is not without its problems..
Political situation
Félix Antoine Tshisekedi Tshilombo, son of historic opponent Etienne Tshisekedi, has been declared the winner of the disputed December 2018 presidential election. In the "first peaceful transition" in the country's history, he replaced Joseph Kabila as head of state since 2001. Among the key measures initiated under Tshisekedi I were free primary education, public sector reforms, high international visibility and increased focus on stabilizing the eastern part of the country. All this despite the resurgence of conflict and the deterioration of diplomatic relations with neighboring Rwanda. Felix Tshisekedi's first term in office was also marred by a number of scandals, including the ambitious "100-day program", which was marked by strong suspicions of corruption.
Felix Tshisekedi is officially standing for re-election in the next presidential poll, scheduled for the end of 2023. Several heavyweights on the Congolese political scene are also in the starting blocks, as alliances are made and broken in the run-up to the fateful date. This is assuming that the date is respected, and that the elections are not postponed for various reasons (insecurity in the country, etc.), as has often been the case in recent years in the DRC.
Felix Tshisekedi's first term in office saw three successive governments. In early 2021, Tshisekedi set up a new political alliance called the "Sacred Union", shattering the previous coalition established after the 2019 elections with Joseph Kabila's political family. On February 15, 2021, after taking over the rotating presidency of the African Union, President Tshisekedi appointed Jean-Michel Sama Lukonde Kyenge as Prime Minister to head a second government formed in April 2021. The latter was reappointed in January 2023, despite a number of ministerial reshuffles that led to two former presidential candidates, Jean-Pierre Bemba and Vital Kamerhe, joining a new, third government, just a few days before the announced date of the next elections.
Security
Peace and security have still not been restored throughout the country, particularly in the East, in the battered provinces of Kivu, Ituri and Tanganyika. President Tshisekedi has declared a state of siege, and placed a military command in charge of the provinces of North Kivu and Ituri in May 2021, in the face of "worsening violence", which seems to be continuing... Kasai, in the center of the country, also experienced unrest in 2016-2017, due to internal conflicts, but a relative calm seems to have returned. Daily life nevertheless continues in the main towns of these provinces, which are not without their assets and remain accessible to visitors, as do the surrounding tourist sites (including the Virunga and Kahuzi-Biega national parks in Kivu). Even so, it's a good idea to find out exactly what's going on before you set off.
Economy
The DRC's recurring weaknesses include poor infrastructure (energy, transport, telecommunications), a lack of agricultural development despite the country's enormous potential in this area, weak governance and the activity of armed groups in the eastern part of the country. The DRC is the world's leading producer of cobalt and Africa's leading producer of copper, with a GDP per capita of $488 in 2021.
The DRC's economy remains overly dependent on the mining sector, with 95% of its exports in raw materials (including 40% of copper and cobalt destined for China). This makes it highly dependent on world prices, with very little redistribution. The level of poverty among the Congolese population remains alarmingly high, a situation further exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic. Here, as elsewhere, the war in Ukraine and the subsequent rise in world energy and food prices have also had repercussions on the already extremely low purchasing power of the population. The average inflation rate is set to rise to 9.2% by 2022.
Poverty levels and major disparities
According to the World Bank, 62% of the population, or 60 million people, will be living on less than $2.15 a day in 2022. Most of these people live in rural areas and in the outskirts of major cities, precisely because of the rural exodus. Huge disparities exist between the vast majority of the population (over)living in these conditions, a small emerging middle and urban class, and the more affluent categories found mainly in the big cities, or coming from the diasporas. In terms of the Human Development Index (HDI) - which is supposed to measure the average quality of life of a country's population (health, life expectancy, schooling, purchasing power...), and which is calculated alongside GDP - the DRC ranks 175th out of 189 countries worldwide, according to a December 2020 UNDP report.
Prospects and growth
However, analysts believe that the country's growth prospects are encouraging. Falling commodity prices had shaken the Congolese economy in 2019, necessitating IMF intervention. In 2020, the rapid recovery in international prices enabled the emergence of 1.7% growth. While containing the impact of the health crisis caused by Covid-19. Furthermore, in July 2021 - and for the first time in almost ten years - the IMF signed a three-year program with the DRC, expanding its credit facilities by $1.5 billion.
In 2022, economic growth is expected to reach 8.6%, following on from the encouraging 6.2% recorded in 2021. This will be driven primarily by investment and exports in the mining sector. In the non-mining sectors (including services), growth slowed to 3% in 2022, compared with 4.5% in 2021. The budget deficit has also narrowed: - 2.7% of GDP in 2022 (vs. - 0.8% in 2021).
Investments
The main investors in the DRC come from China (70% of the national mining sector), India, Belgium, Canada, Italy, Great Britain, France, Spain, the United Arab Emirates and Lebanon. Most of these investments are located in the provinces of Kongo Central, Kinshasa, the two Kivus and ex-Katanga, due to the presence of road and electricity infrastructures in these provinces. The formal private sector remains underdeveloped. The bulk of day-to-day economic activity is informal, based on small businesses and the resourcefulness of the population.
Agriculture, fishing and livestock
Despite its immense agricultural potential, the DRC continues to rely heavily on imported foodstuffs to make up for its deficit. The main food crops are manioc, corn, rice, groundnuts, yams, bananas and tropical fruits. These non-mechanized crops have very low yields. On the industrial side, Congo still produces palm oil, rubber, coffee, cocoa, tea, sugar cane, cotton, tobacco and cinchona. However, most of these crops are little exploited today, or have been abandoned due to the deterioration of infrastructure and transport networks, and the lack of local financing structures. The same reasons also prevent fishing from developing, despite the country's fish-rich rivers. As for livestock farming, with the exception of a few large herds, it is essentially traditional and suffers from armed conflict and competition from imported products.
Tourism
In view of its enormous assets, the government's ambition is to make the DRC the3rd largest tourist destination in sub-Saharan Africa by 2030, and to develop this sector - currently in its infancy - so that it becomes a genuine industry and contributes to the diversification of the economy. To this end, the Integrated National Master Plan for Tourism Development 2015-2030 was updated in 2020. But there is still a long way to go... The development of tourism in the DRC faces a number of constraints: institutional, legal and strategic; linked to infrastructure and visitor facilities; budgetary and logistical; cultural; security... It is important that tourism adapts to the country's economic, political, human and environmental realities. Ecotourism or sustainable tourism must be part of a global strategy involving local populations, and aim to strike a balance between the use of natural resources and the development of income.
