Jean-Marc Kabund will not be on the ballot in the December Presidential elections in neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo. He will spend 7 years in prison after court found him guilty of insulting the president.
On Wednesday, the Court of Cassation passed the verdict. Kabund was tried for “insulting Parliament, the Government of the Republic, insulting the Head of State, as well as the propagation of false rumors” and around ten other charges. Jean-Marc Kabund was sentenced to 84 months (7 years) of main penal servitude.
After creating his political party Alliance for Change (A.Ch) last year, Kabund positioned himself in opposition to the Tshisekedi regime, which he describes as “danger at the top of the state”.
Potential candidate for the presidential election on December 20 of this year, the former first vice-president of the National Assembly also denounced the exercise of power of President Felix Tshisekedi and his cronies which is, according to him, to the detriment of the Congolese.
During the hearings before the Court of Cassation, Jean-Marc Kabund reiterated his position on the management of the country by the regime in power. For him, “the DRC is in danger” believing that with Félix Tshisekedi, “everything is done no matter what”.
“I ask the people to do everything possible to ensure that Mr. Tshisekedi is sidelined in the next elections because I consider that the country is in danger with him at the head. The danger is the misery of the people, it is the insecurity in the east of the country, it is the insecurity in Kinshasa, urban banditry, kidnappings”, said Jean-Marc Kabund for whom “the danger is the total absence of a coherent social program, the absence of a clear program at the top of the State. Everything is done no matter what. It’s trial and error.”
“I consider that because the country is in danger, I call on the people to no longer vote for Tshisekedi and to do everything possible to ensure that he is not at the head of the country. I have the right to say it and I will repeat it every time I have the floor,” he added.
Still before the judges, Kabund presented Tshisekedi’s power as an “unjust, anti-social power which organized predation”. To support his accusations, the former interim president of the ruling party (UDPS) asserted that “those at the top share the money”.
“How can we understand that in a normal nation, that there are people who receive $30,000 a month and others who can receive less than $100 and it is they who die for this power, it’s is unacceptable”, he wondered before adding that “what the ministers, the CEOs of companies receive as remuneration, it is unfair, I cannot even tell you what I earned as a salary while serving as first vice-president of the national assembly.
Since August last year, Jean-Marc Kabund, national deputy and declared candidate for the presidential election next December, has been languishing in prison.
