Transport is a vital sector in the city of Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo. However, the taxi and taxi-bus drivers of this metropolis observed a strike on June 5, 2023 despite a 10-day moratorium without control granted to them by the provincial transport authority.
Faced with this recurring situation, the lawyer Placide Luboya Mwanza calls for everyone to be made aware, in particular of the State, the main regulator of societal life. The latter should drastically clean up the transport sector, by combating police and administrative harassment characterized by crooks and non-apparent elements identified as intelligence and transport agents.
For this, Prime Minister Sama Lukonde must urgently instruct the Deputy Prime Minister of the Interior and the Minister of Transport to unite their strategic and operational intelligence with all the security services (police and ANR) to put out of harm all elements of the police, intelligence and transport operating without a valid mission order.
Isolating the association of taxi drivers ACHACO is also another possible solution proposed by the lawyer, in order to better target those responsible for the subscriber and half-court phenomenon who are very often decried by Kinshasa passengers.
According to Placide Luboya, whatever the effort deployed by the State, the deep evil of the Kinshasa transport sector will only be resolved when the State procures enough wheeled machinery capable of meeting the needs of the Kinshasa population, or even of the whole country.
It should be noted that Kinshasa taxi drivers are often targeted by non-apparent elements or the police due to rising prices and practices reprehensible by law such as half-courting. On the other hand, we also find the phenomenon of payments. The police and other agents deployed in the main arteries are compelled to reach a certain amount to pay or send to the commander of the zone, the antenna or the person in charge of the mission at the end of each day.
The State must put an end to this situation and take concrete measures for a cleaner, more efficient and better organized transport sector for the well-being of all citizens of Kinshasa.