Winner of the 2018 Nobel Peace Prize, Denis Mukwege, the famous Congolese gynecologist will be on the ballot in the December Presidential elections in Democratic Republic of Congo.
The 68-year-old Mukwege on Monday announced in the Congolese Capital Kinshasa that he will run in the Presidential elections come December 20.
It is almost six days to the closure of accepting candidatures a time line provided by the Independent Electoral Commission of the country.
Meanwhile, nearly 20 people have expressed an interest in standing as a candidate for the upcoming elections, but only seven have so far been officially registered, according to CENI.
“I agree to be your candidate for president of the republic,” he stated, adding that he would focus on issues such as insecurity and political leadership.
He called himself an “indignant and revolted citizen” and said he promised to “work, work and work.”
Denis Mukwege who has been a vocal critic of the Kinshasa present and previous regimes is a man well-known, having, for nearly 40 years, devoted his life to caring for women, victims of sexual violence linked to armed conflicts particularly in the eastern provinces of the DRCongo.
After repairing victims of sexual violence in war-torn East of DRC, Dr Mukwenge says he is determined to “repair” the evils that he constantly denounces such as corruption, the subcontracting of security issues in the DRC, impunity, the incompetence of leaders.
“I’m not doing it for interest, nor for power, but to save my homeland. I’m not going to wait until 2028. Tomorrow it’s too late, I’m leaving now,” declared Mukwege.
Last month, civil society organizations, made up mainly of women, gave a deposit of 160 million Congolese francs to Doctor Denis Mukwege so that he could run in the presidential election in December 2023.
Denis Mukwege is backed by the Alliance of Congolese for the Refoundation of the Nation (ACRN), a new political coalition established this year and led by Pastor Roger Puati.
In a press release last month, Mukwege said he was “deeply outraged by the shocking images of the massacre” and called for “far-reaching reform” to professionalise the country’s security services.
President Felix Tshisekedi has struggled to contain the violence during his first term in office, and hastened the withdrawal of a United Nations peacekeeping force in September amid complaints about its ineffectiveness and lack of popularity.
