The contract between the Democratic Republic of Congo and Primera Gold is a strategy for the DR-Congo to « recover its sovereignty and not sell it off », while fighting against one of the ingredients of the « perpetuation of armed conflicts » in the East of the DR-Congo. This is the Congolese government’s response to the context of challenges brought by the national deputy Alfred Maisha, Dr. Denis Mukwege and civil society organizations.
The controversy surrounding the agreement linking the DR-Congo to the Emirati company Primera, through its subsidiaries Primera Gold RDC and Primera Metals RDC continues to resound on the web. The Minister of Finance, Nicolas Kazadi, the Minister of Communication and Media, Patrick Muyaya as well as the deputy chief of staff (dircaba) of the President of the Republic, André Wamesoin turn provided the elements of response from the Sama Lukonde 2 government on this « strategic » issue, through a press briefing which took place this Monday, August 28 in Kinshasa.
“This controversy has no reason to exist. Because for this part of the country bordering Rwanda we are talking about 26 to 27 kilos of gold produced in terms of realization in 2022. Primera Gold RDC comes into action in January 2023 in 7 or 8 months the country arrives at 3 tons exported just with the statistics of South Kivu Province. this is a huge performance for artisanal gold. Who can be against this performance knowing that the 27 kilos which brought only 24 thousand dollars to the State, means all the tons were fraudulently counted in the statistics of Rwanda. The three tons that we have exported these days brought in a total of around 1 million seven hundred thousand dollars,” detailed Nicolas Kazadi, Congolese Minister of Finance.
According to the national deputy Alfred Maisha, the Primera contract would cost the DRC 500 million USD each month. The same revelation was taken up by Dr. Mukwege, Nobel Peace Prize winner and famous DR-Congolese doctor, on Sunday at a press conference. The deputy director of the cabinet of the President of the Republic reproached the deputy Alfred Maisha and the Nobel Prize, Mukwege for making fallacious remarks. They bring them closer to having no mastery and competence on the matter.
“We ask everyone to put aside our political affiliations, it is in the interest of the Republic. We want to take the monopoly of our raw materials. It is a contract in which the DRC has a large part of control. This should make the whole nation happy because this opportunity will pull the rug out from the feet of adventurers and rebels who are fed by foreign countries since many of the reports detail the involvement of certain countries. Primera will make investments of more than two thousand two hundred kilometers of road which will be opened and a rehabilitation of two airports, followed by the installation of a power plant. It is on the basis of these infrastructure investments that Primera Metals requested exemptions in accordance with our investment code”, informed André Wameso.
According to the government spokesman, the agreement with Primera meets the fight of Mukwege. This approach plans to cut off the various supply circuits of Rwanda, shareholder of the armed troops operating in the eastern part of the DRC.
“The main objective with primera is to see how to restore security. If the strategy is well implemented, there will be no more raped women and all the violence in the eastern part of the country. This is also a good step to join the doctor’s fight. It is always better to know the strategy that the government wants to pursue. You make statements like an ordinary citizen at the risk of appearing worrying for the country, ”urged Patrick Muyaya.
It should be noted that the amount risked by Primera in the DRC in a war zone for the first primera year was raised to 950 million dollars to export 8 tons of gold, the second year the objective is to reach 24 tons of gold , on average two tons of gold per month with a cash flow of 1.5 billion and for the third year the company plans to reach 36 tons with a flow of 2.5 billion.
Albert MUANDA
