The Youngest African President: President Christian Malanga By Ben Omoakin Oguntala, African in Chief www.africasecretariat.com omoakin@africasecretariat.com +447812 039867 twitter: @afrosecretariat
Africa is now has its first President under 35 and the question this brings is whether the transformation Africa desperately needs can be delivered by this young, energetic and charismatic leader?
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I was honoured to be invited by his Excellency President Christian Malanga to meet him and his officials in Belgium, I was not sure what to expect however ended up very thrilled with what I heard and the changes that this young leader is about to unleash not only for the New Zaire but for Africa as a whole. President Malanga in his introduction told me, in order for a fire to start, someone has to light a match and this set the tone for the conversation for the whole day. President Malanga may be young but he has done what many African leaders are failing to do. He wants New Zaire to be as popular and developed as the United States of America. Video available online - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3-4-yxFtEI
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Who is President Christian Malanga?
Christian Malanga Musumari (commonly known as Christian Malanga, was born January 2, 1983, making him 34 and the youngest African leader. He is a Congolese Politician, businessmen, and former military officer.
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A military man and connected with the armed forces In June, 2006, Malanga returned to the Democratic Republic of the Congo to participate in military service, and in 2007 he achieved the rank of Captain in the Congolese Military. His principle duties during service included brigade morale officer and command of a training company with responsibility for approximately 235 men under his command.
He is currently President of the United Congolese Party (UCP), a national political party he formed after his experiences in the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s widely disputed parliamentary elections in 2011.
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Focus on women empowerment The President said women leadership in civil society; leaders in politics and economics is a fundamental core platform of the United Congolese Party. #womenempowerment#DRC #UCP President Malanga and Wife Maman Malanga
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The women of Congo are taking the country from the political criminals and giving it to the people.
President Christian M Malanga meeting with Sheroes United to discuss the collaboration of empowering the Women of Congo-Zaire
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Knighted by the Vatican
On April 29th 2017, he was knighted Grand Cross of the order of the Kingdom of Saint Peter and Paul at the Vatican, Rome. It is an honour and a privilege to join the Order, he said. I thank the Pope for supporting the Congolese people and our desire for democracy and change.
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Anti-corruption Corruption is one of the biggest challenges facing any country in Africa, it is more so in DRC because the leadership are actively involved in robbing the country of its assets and as a result, the people are deprived of the benefits of the natural resources that God has blessed them with.
To address this issue, the President has agreed to engage the Anti-Corruption Commission to initiate international Anti-Corruption prosecution in the EU and in the USA. This project aims to recover stolen funds from Congo by Government officials who have unjustly enriched themselves and also corrupt international organisations that aided and abetted the corruption. The Project will recover stolen funds to be used in the development of tribal communities across New Zaire. Again another first for an African leader.
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Learning from other countries that have transformed their economies – Georgia The President took his leadership to Georgia that was formerly declared a failed state, Georgia has managed to transform itself into one of the success stories of Europe. This is the new wave of thinking for African leaders and rather than re-inventing the wheel, The President is using existing best practices.
UCP POLITICAL LEADERS DELEGATION VISITED THE MINISTRY OF INTERNAL AFFAIRS OF GEORGIA The delegation of the political leaders of the New Zaire headed by Christian Malanga, the Presidential Candidate visited the Ministry of Internal Affairs. The aim of the visit was to get familiarized with the ongoing reforms and democratization processes.
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Development that touches every tribe simultaneously In the first ever move of its kind, an African President engages partnership with an African Natural Ruler from another country to initiate tribal development in his Country. The first of its kind in intraAfrica trade development initiatives. President Malanga has invited a King from Nigeria, His Royal Highness Oba Dokun Thompson, The Oloni to initiate the idea behind the African Natural Rulers in the Congo. http://www.africasecretariat.com/ANR_AboutUs.aspx The African Natural Rulers would enable the unification of all tribes in the Congo by bringing together all their Tribal leaders into the African Natural Rulers initiative and initiate trade development, raw materials development and jobs.
This is another first for an African leader, one of the most common causes of conflict in Africa is tribal conflict, and bringing development to directly impact all tribal communities simultaneously is the first time in Africa whereby leadership decisions and developments are distributing evenly across tribal lines. The effect of the influence of African Natural leaders means every tribe would be able to touch and feel development changes instantaneously and also kick out any claim of bias as development would be taking place across all ethnic groups with their own Tribal engaged as champions of development.
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Micro finance for small businesses
The President has agreed to implement a micro finance project to also be championed by Tribal leaders, the aim of which is to build up a fund that supports local micro businesses to start their economic. The solution is partnership with www.paymentsandco.com will provide micro finance solution to The President said only about 1 % percent of Congolese have bank accounts. As President we will invest in our future and our children. #JobGrowth #privatization#NewZaire #DevelopCongo #EconomicGrowth #drc#rdc #WomenEmp owerment #Equality#WomenSafety #TheyDeserveMore
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Human Rights
Human rights abuses in DRC is clearly one of the highest in world and more disturbingly, it goes unpunished, the The President said - I want it to be known that regarding the massacres of my people in the Territory of Beni I never for a minute believed it to be Islamic extremists, and neither did most of the people. Joseph Kabila and his regime in Kinshasa are responsible for all the atrocities... This evil man must be stopped. I have a clear plan and vision to put an end to this evil government in Kinshasa.
Source - https://www.hrw.org/africa/democratic-republic-congo The Democratic Republic of Congo endured much bloodshed and brutal political repression in the lead-up to the December 19, 2016 deadline that marked the end of President Joseph Kabila’s constitutionally mandated two-term limit. A Catholic Church-mediated agreement signed at the end of 2016 includes a clear commitment that presidential elections will be held before the end of 2017 and that Kabila will not seek a third term. Yet progress on implementing the deal has stalled, and serious questions persist about whether Kabila and other political leaders are committed to organizing elections. The government crackdown against the political opposition, media, and civil society groups continues, and there has been little to no accountability for past abuses. Violent conflicts have intensified across the country, as numerous armed groups, and in some cases government security forces, attacked civilians.
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Raw materials development Abuse of DRC’s raw materials has been the case since the beginning of its history. President Malanga spoke at Ethical Corporation about the importance of supporting and involving local communities. When asked, the President said he has a radical plan to change the sector starting from the extractive industries, in what can only be described as a touch of genius, the President during our interview, you can cite examples of Africa failing to properly develop its raw materials and show evidence of how state after state fail to allow their raw materials to benefit the people. He said he was going to start with the good example and he turned to the Government of Botswana. He went on to say, the expertise used in Botswana is the best example Africa has in converting its raw materials to end products in Africa and part of the intra-Africa trade allows us to bring in that expertise for a new start in New Zaire.
Tourism
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In summary We have seen and heard promises from African leaders in the past, even from leaders who have being part of the problem or crisis that created uprising for change of Government, they get in Government and their tone changes. President Malanga acknowledges that this is the situation and when I put it to him, his response was, all I ask for is 12 months and you can see if I have delivered what I have promised. As a result, it remains to be seen if these changes will be implemented, however, looking and the depth of these promises, something tells me this changes will be started within a month of the President being in office and if these projects are kicked off, in 12 months New Zaire will be unrecognizable and there will be a mammoth change to the lives of the Congolese people.
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