The member of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) continues, “In front of the polling stations, before, during and after, let us be vigilant to assure ourselves that people we have not chosen are not being imposed on us.”
Eligible voters in DRC are to participate in the election of the country’s President, 500 members of the National Assembly, members of the 26 Provincial Assemblies, and, for the first time under the new constitution, members of some 300 Municipal Councils.
Campaigns for the presidential, legislative and local elections were officially launched on November 19.
Reflecting on the political campaigns, Bishop Bafuidinsoni says that he has taken the liberty of “listening, seeing and reading what's going on.”
“You hear a lot of things; you see the candidates or their electoral commissioners passing through the territories or towns of our Province of Mai-Ndombe, where they have never been during the whole of the mandate that is coming to an end,” he observes.
The Catholic Church leader continues, “While some boast about their record and continue to shower us with promises, others criticize that record and in turn promise to do better. And all of this is met with insults and denigration, on social media, in public squares and on radio stations, with verbal and physical violence.”
“It's shameful, unspeakable from men and women who claim to have political responsibilities,” Bishop Bafuidinsoni laments, and calls upon the electorate to say “no to the opportunists who have changed sides in pursuit of personal interests, no to buying of conscience, and no to those who want to hide their mismanagement and abuse of power by evoking patriotism, national sovereignty, imperialism, and colonialism.”
In his December 14 statement, the Local Ordinary of Inongo Diocese since his transfer from DRC’s Kinshasa Archdiocese in March 2018 after serving just under three years as Auxiliary Bishop invites the Congolese to pray for their country, “that peace may reign in everyone's heart and that we may all be peacemakers.”
“May the power of this world not make us forget that to serve and to give one's life as a ransom for many is better than anything else, if we wish to inherit the Kingdom of Heaven,” he implores.
The Jesuit Bishop further implores, “Through the intercession of the Virgin Mary, our Lady of Peace, may the Child Jesus, who is coming, find us in peace and in the joy of having a renewed and legitimate political class.”
