The Democratic Republic of the Congo faces an endemic problem of corruption which harms the country’s development and investor confidence. With this in mind, the Agency for the Prevention and Fight against Corruption (APLC) is making every effort to put in place a special anti-corruption law which will strengthen preventive measures and sanction acts of embezzlement of public funds. .
According to Beny-Laure Kamwiziku, Deputy Coordinator in charge of detection, prevention and administration of the APLC, the current legislation does not take into account all aspects of the fight against corruption, which weakens efforts to eradicate it. The APLC therefore wants this new special anti-corruption law to remove the immunities that protect certain people considered untouchable, thus making it possible to prosecute all perpetrators of corruption, regardless of their social or political position.
The bill also provides that the offense of corruption is imprescriptible, which means that no legal action could be canceled because of the time that has elapsed since the facts. This would fight impunity and send a strong message that corruption will no longer be tolerated in the country.
The efforts of the APLC are already beginning to bear fruit. Thanks to the missions carried out in the provinces, more than 300 million US dollars have been recovered by the public treasury. In addition, more than 150 looted public real estate assets have been identified and steps are underway to return them to the Congolese state. These results show that the fight against corruption can have positive economic effects and contribute to building a fairer and more prosperous country.
In addition to the creation of this special anti-corruption law, other measures are also necessary to strengthen the fight against corruption in the DRC. The digitization of the country’s institutions, as suggested by Francis Lusakueno, Deputy Coordinator in charge of prosecutions and the follow-up of cases set in court, could play a decisive role. By making administrative processes more transparent and using technologies to facilitate the tracking of financial flows, it becomes more difficult for the corrupt to hide their actions.
It is obvious that the fight against corruption in the DRC is a long-term battle, but the will displayed by the APLC and the first results obtained are encouraging. By putting in place a special anti-corruption law, by strengthening prevention and ensuring the punishment of the culprits, the Democratic Republic of Congo is giving itself the means to effectively combat this scourge which is hampering its development