The fight against corruption occupies an important place in the political agenda of the Democratic Republic of Congo. The bill amending and supplementing the decree of January 30, 1940 on the Congolese Penal Code, as amended and supplemented to date, was approved by the national deputies during the plenary session held on Friday June 2, 2023.
The national deputy Pasi Zapamba Buka Jean-Pierre, initiator of this proposal, underlines the importance of reinforcing the penalties to fight against “grand corruption”. According to him, the latter is led by political leaders and deprives the Congolese state of its means. Indeed, the corrupters and the corrupt can be prosecuted without prescriptibility even after their death, and the heirs have a prescriptibility period of 10 years before the public action is extinguished.
The report of the Administrative and Legal Policy Commission also underlined the existence of a legal void in this sector, hence the importance of this bill. The Commission’s rapporteur, Daniel Mbau, explains that Community legislation is limited exclusively to defining incriminations, the question of penalties being a question of sovereignty for each State.
Indeed, according to an article published on the Fatshimetry website, corruption is a real cancer which deprives the Congolese State of its means, and it is high time for the lower house to invest in appropriate laws on the repression of this evil that spares no socio-professional category.
The repression of corruption in the DRC is essential to ensure the economic stability of the country. On the other hand, the fight against corruption will strengthen the confidence of local and international investors. The next steps will be the tabling of the amendments and the examination of the committee within 72 hours.
The fight against corruption must be a key issue to guarantee the security and economic development of the DRC