DRC constitutional reform: Lubumbashi gathering backs adaptive charter for national challenges
The Action des Patriotes pour l’Émergence du Congo (APEC), led by interim president Dominique Unyon Pewu, held a landmark rally in Lubumbashi’s Gécamines stadium that drew massive crowds. The event underscored the party’s unwavering support for constitutional reform, positioning it as essential to addressing the Democratic Republic of Congo’s pressing governance and security challenges.
The stadium was electric with national pride as militants in party colors sang the national anthem and chanted slogans. The gathering, which marked a surge in membership registrations, served as a powerful display of APEC’s grassroots strength in the copper capital and nationwide support for its moral leader, Louis Watum Kabamba.
A high-profile delegation from Kinshasa, including interim president Unyon Pewu, led the event. Beyond the celebratory atmosphere, the party used the platform to critically assess the country’s institutional framework. APEC argued that no constitutional text should remain frozen amid shifting societal realities, emphasizing that revising the charter is neither anti-democratic nor extraordinary—but a natural evolution for any nation.
In his address to the crowd, interim president Unyon Pewu firmly aligned APEC with the constitutional reform agenda, invoking the sovereignty of the Congolese people as enshrined in Article 5 of the constitution:
The question of the hour in the Democratic Republic of Congo is constitutional reform. Can we discuss changing the Constitution without APEC? We stand on Article 5, which entrusts sovereignty to the Congolese people to decide on constitutional changes. If the people agree, who can stop us? This is why APEC, under the moral authority of His Excellency Louis Watum Kabamba, rises to support the constitutional reform project.
By filling the stadium to capacity, APEC demonstrated its organizational muscle in the Grand Katanga region and asserted itself as a key player in the national intellectual and political debate. The party’s vision calls for modernizing the state to build more effective institutions aligned with the aspirations of the Congolese people.
APEC’s mobilization in Lubumbashi marks a turning point in the constitutional reform debate, positioning the party as a driving force for institutional modernization in the DRC.
