Fatshimetrie, August 7, 2024 (FM). The scene was lively on Tuesday in Kinshasa, in front of the Prime Minister’s Office, while employees of the Agency for Steering, Coordination and Monitoring of Collaboration Agreements Signed between the DRC and Private Partners (APCS) gathered to make their voices heard their demands. Led by Mr. Loris Nsala, head of division of this state structure, the demonstration was motivated by the need to regularize their administrative and financial situation, a legitimate request in the face of arrears which impact the daily lives of staff.
The creation of the agency in 2008, from the Office of Steering, Coordination and Monitoring of Conventions between the DRC and China, was followed by a transformation in 2022 to extend its missions to all the country’s foreign partners. According to this year’s decree, staff from the previous office were to be integrated into the nascent agency, a point on which tensions arose with the director general, Freddy Yodi Shembo, accused of wanting to dismiss nearly 600 agents.
In addition to the regularization of salaries and arrears concerning the rent of the premises housing the agency, employees also raised questions about the bonus allocated in a disparate manner, without objective criteria and about the payment of the IPR, reduced to 3% by the government but still taken at 26% from the salaries of Agency staff, without clear justification.
This demonstration, although peaceful, reveals dysfunctions, particularly in terms of management of human and financial resources within the Steering Agency. It is therefore urgent that the competent authorities take measures to respond to the legitimate demands of employees and guarantee a stable and fair working environment within this key structure of the DRC’s international cooperation.