GDRC REPLACES ITS "PHANTOM MINISTER" OF TRADE

UNCLAS KINSHASA 000586 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV KDEM PINR CG SUBJECT: GDRC REPLACES ITS "PHANTOM MINISTER" OF TRADE REF: KINSHASA 185 ¶1. (U) The GDRC announced May 28 the nomination of Denys Mbuyu Manga as Minister of Trade. A political independent from Katanga province, he has been director of the National School of Finance since 1991. Mbuyu Manga also served as chief of staff to the Minister of Mines in 1967, and later as director of human resources and Brussels representative for the DRC's gold mining parastatal OKIMO. ¶2. (U) Mbuyu Manga replaces Andre Kasongo Ilunga, the so-called "phantom minister" who, in fact, never existed. As reported reftel, Ilunga was a fictitious nominee put forward by Honorius Kisimba Ngoy, president of the Katangan-based party UNAFEC, in an apparent attempt to gain the position for himself. The GDRC's initial announcement of the "phantom minister" in February embarrassed the new government (which apparently accepted Ilunga sight unseen),and ultimately led to Ngoy's dismissal as UNAFEC's president. ¶3. (SBU) Biographical information: Denys Mbuyu Manga, 67, was born November 20, 1939, in the Kabalo, Katanga province. He holds a degree in administration from the National School of Administration in Kinshasa and a law degree from the Free University of Brussels. Mbuyu Manga held several government positions in the post-independence era with the Ministry of Civil Service (1965),the Ministry of Mines (1967) and the DRC gold mining parastatal OKIMO -- including as its representative in Brussels. After leaving government service, he was a professor of law and political and social sciences at the University of Lubumbashi. In 1991, he was named director of the National School of Finance, a vocational training school supervised by the Ministry of Finance. Mbuyu Manga is an independent. MEECE