Outrage over DR Congo law barring children of foreigners from presidency
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Transcript
00:00 Noel Chani never misses an opportunity to campaign.
00:04 Elections in DR Congo are due in December, and Noel Chani is fiercely defending a bill
00:09 he's spearheading that calls for only people with two Congolese parents to be allowed to
00:15 run for top office, including the presidency.
00:18 He says the change would be in the country's best interests.
00:22 If DR Congo happened to have a president whose mother would be Congolese and father be, say,
00:28 Rwandan, he might be prone to making decisions challenging the country's national sovereignty.
00:34 The controversial tax was first submitted to the National Assembly in 2021.
00:39 Lawmakers rejected it for being unconstitutional.
00:43 But this time, the bill will be examined.
00:46 Ivory Coast's concept of "Ivoirité" is in everyone's mind.
00:50 It was brought to the national stage in the 1990s by a candidate accusing his contender
00:55 of not being 100% Ivoirian.
00:58 "The concept of Ivoirity meant seven million Ivoirians were denied citizenship, which led
01:05 to the war.
01:06 Here, we don't deny citizenship to anyone."
01:10 The bill's critics say it is an attempt to block one specific candidate seven months
01:15 before the presidential election, Moise Katumbi.
01:19 Should this bill pass and be enacted this year, the opponent candidacy could be invalidated.
01:25 "The competition should be open to all, and no one should be seen as a threat to those
01:29 who claim they are going to win the elections.
01:32 We can see that all these manoeuvres are aimed at Katumbi because he makes them feel insecure.
01:37 Such a bill is a bad look on democracy."
01:43 Civil society organisations have called the tax racist, and President Félix Gisekédi
01:48 has expressed reservations about its relevance.