Sylvestre Ilunga Ilunkamba (born 1947, Katanga Province,

Belgian Congo The Belgian Congo (french: Congo belge, ; nl, Belgisch-Congo) was a Belgian colony in Central Africa from 1908 until independence in 1960. The former colony adopted its present name, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), in 1964. Colo ...

) is a Congolese politician who was appointed as the

Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of the Congo The Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (french: link=no, 1=Premier ministre de la République démocratique du Congo, sw, 1=Waziri Mkuu wa Jamhuri ya Kidemokrasia ya Kongo, ln, 1=Minisele ya Yambo wa Republiki ya Kɔ́ngɔ ...

in May 2019, formally establishing his government in August 2019. He has had a long political career going back to the 1970s, having held a number of ministerial cabinet posts, and was previously a professor at the

University of Kinshasa The University of Kinshasa (french: Université de Kinshasa), commonly known as UNIKIN, is one of the three major universities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, together with the University of Kisangani and University of Lubumbashi. Origin ...

since 1979. Ilunga has also been the secretary general of Congo's national railway company. He has a reputation as an experienced public servant and technocrat, as well as an ally of former President

Joseph Kabila Joseph Kabila Kabange ( , ; born 4 June 1971) is a Congolese politician who served as President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo between January 2001 and January 2019. He took office ten days after the assassination of his father, Pres ...

.Sylvestre Ilunga appointed as prime minister of DR Congo
Xinhua, 20 May 2019

Biography

Sylvestre Ilunga was born in 1947 in the Katanga Province (today

Haut-Katanga Province Haut-Katanga (French for "Upper Katanga") is one of the 21 new provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo created in the 2015 repartitioning. Haut-Katanga, Haut-Lomami, Lualaba, and Tanganyika provinces are the result of the dismember ...

since the 2015 partition). He hails from the

Luba Luba may refer to: Geography *Kingdom of Luba, a pre-colonial Central African empire * Ľubá, a village and municipality in the Nitra region of south-west Slovakia *Luba, Abra, a municipality in the Philippines *Luba, Equatorial Guinea, a town ...

ethnic group of Katanga.DRC: Sylvestre Ilunga Ilunkamba, the new Prime Minister
The Africa Report, 28 May 2019 Ilunga worked as an economics professor at the

since 1979.Experienced technocrat to head government of the Democratic Republic of Congo
Deutsche Welle, 21 May 2019 Ilunga entered politics in 1970 and held various government offices throughout the 1980s and 1990s, notably the cabinet posts of Minister of Planning (1990) and Minister of Finance (1990–1991) under the regime of Mobutu Sese Seko. After the fall of the Mobutu regime, Ilunga left the country and established a mining company in South Africa in 1993. He would return to the DRC a decade later. Since the 1990s he has largely been in retirement, except for being appointed in 2014 as the head of the SNCC, the national railway company of DR Congo. He was an economic advisor to the young President

early in his term and oversaw the implementation of World Bank and IMF mandated reforms, including the privatisation of some government assets. On 20 May 2019, at the age of 72, he was designated as the

in a deal negotiated by President

Félix Tshisekedi Félix Antoine Tshisekedi Tshilombo (; born 13 June 1963) is a Congolese politician who has been the President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo since 24 January 2019. He is the leader of the Union for Democracy and Social Progress (UDPS) ...

and the Common Front for Congo ruling coalition in the country's

parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...

, who were allied with Tshisekedi's predecessor Joseph Kabila. Since the December 2018 general election the former opposition leader had been in negotiations with the Kabila-allied parties to nominate a Prime Minister, which had secured a majority in the election.Sylvestre Ilunga Ilukumba named as Congo prime minister
Reuters, 20 May 2019 Other potential candidates included mining executive

Albert Yuma Albert Yuma Mulimbi (born July 30, 1955) is a Congolese businessman, economist and former chairman at the state-owned mining company Gecamines. An International Labour Organization dignitary, he is the chairman of the Congolese Employers Federa ...

, finance minister Henri Yav, and former national security advisor Jean Mbuyu were suggested but were rejected by the President for different reasons. Norbert Nkulu, a member of the DRC's

Constitutional Court A constitutional court is a high court that deals primarily with constitutional law. Its main authority is to rule on whether laws that are challenged are in fact unconstitutional, i.e. whether they conflict with constitutionally established ...

, and Jean Nyembo Shabani, the former head of the Central Bank of Zaire, suggested Ilunga. President Tshisekedi and the parliament agreed to form a new government on July 27, 2019, more than six months after the 2018 election, beginning Ilunga's formal nomination for Prime Minister. Ilunga's new cabinet included 65 members, including 48 ministers and 17 vice-ministers, out of which 42 posts went to the

Common Front for Congo The Common Front for Congo (french: Front commun pour le Congo; FCC) is a parliamentary group in the National Assembly of the Democratic Republic of the Congo that includes the ruling party, the People's Party for Reconstruction and Democracy, amo ...

(coalition of pro-Kabila parties) and 23 for Heading for Change (President Tshisekedi's alliance). Negotiations between Kabila and Tshisekedi had stalled over who would control the six "sovereign ministries" listed in the DRC's constitution—Finance, Defense, Budget, Justice, Interior, and Foreign Affairs. The new cabinet was formally established in late August 2019. On 28 January 2021, the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the rep ...

passed a motion of no confidence in Ilunga's cabinet, effectively forcing its resignation. The vote was boycotted by the pro-Kabila coalition, and followed the removal of the Assembly speaker in December 2020.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ilunga, Sylvestre Living people 1947 births Democratic Republic of the Congo economists Prime Ministers of the Democratic Republic of the Congo Lovanium University alumni People's Party for Reconstruction and Democracy politicians People from Haut-Katanga Province University of Kinshasa alumni