By Chris Muhizi for MCN Sanday June 11/2023.
Augustin Kabuya, the general secretary of the Union for Democracy and Social Progress (UDPS), urged the leaders and members of the presidential party to reject any proposals with a tribal bent in order to strengthen national cohesion during his political morning address on June 7, 2023.
In his speech, Augustin Kabuya made reference to the arguments made by Representatives Daniel Safu and Mike Mukebayi on a television program against the people of the Kasa region. He emphasized the importance of preserving the unity of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
“…the serious Congolese will never allow tribal discourse to dominate them. Swahili, Bangala, Bakongo, and Baluba are the native languages of the Congo.
We oppose tribalism, as well as national unity and Congolian unity.
Pushing up on this matter, Augustin Kabuya made an effort to reassure people that the UDPS is not a tribal group. It would seem that there are adjoints that cover every linguistic area. He advised the presidential party’s fighters and activists to avoid any distractions.
TRIBALISM IN AFRICA .
Kabuya’s statement speaks of the most prominent problem that has taken Africa not forward by exemplifying the DRCONGO tribalism that has become most furious over the Rwandophone community “ Banyamulenge and Banyabwisha “.
African tribalism manifested itself in its most extravagantly violent form during the genocide in Rwanda in 1994. Despite years of conflict, it has not happened in the Congo.
Because of the late Mobuto Sese Seko’s amazing political balancing act and economic devastation of the nation, the country was in fact very calm under his rule. Tribal fault lines were only successfully exploited by the aspirants to power in the final attempt to overthrow him.
However, in order to evaluate tribalism’s drawbacks and dangers, we must first grasp its advantages. If gunpowder has the power to rip people apart, then it also serves as the glue that ties regular society together. It is constantly present in daily life. Tribalism functions in everyday village life (and much of urban life) like freemasonry or the old school tie: helping each other out with jobs and introductions, splitting the harvest burden, settling marital or financial disputes, and last but not least, creating art and music in a distinctive style.
The improper tribal scar or nose shape only becomes a death sentence when these virtues morph into a virulent, spare-no-quarter epidemic. In the Congo, this is what has taken place.
The time when a strongman could rule from the center, whether he was evil like Mobutu or good like the late president of Tanzania Julius Nyerere, is almost certainly finished. It has still been tried, though. It is. But nobody expects it to be successful but the tyrant and his personal staff. In Africa, the ideas of democracy and human rights have spread widely.