{"id":8869,"date":"2020-06-15T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-06-15T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/personmatters.com\/Remembering_Covid_19_Victims\/?p=8869"},"modified":"2020-06-15T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2020-06-15T00:00:00","slug":"","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/personmatters.com\/Remembering_Covid_19_Victims\/?p=8869","title":{"rendered":"Pierre Lumbi, politician"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Pierre Lumbi Okongo \u2011 a politician in the Democratic Republic of the Congo – passed away on 14 June 2020 after contracting Covid-19 in Kinshasa.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

Lumbi was one of the founders of the Peasant Solidarity (Solidarité Paysanne) movement, which gained legal status in 1985. The initial purpose was to help the rural masses express their problems, resist forced cultivation of cotton, facilitate sales of their crops and help them find new business opportunities. After establishing a National Council of NGOs, the movement began making political demands, calling for a multiparty system at a conference in Kinshasa in 1991. Lumbi joined the government of Étienne Tshisekedi in August 1992 and April 1993, where he was Minister of Foreign Affairs. He joined the government of<\/p>\r\n\r\n

Kengo wa Dondo in July 1994 as Minister of Posts and Telecommunications. He was national security advisor to President Joseph Kabila from January 2001.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

Lumbi was Minister of Foreign Affairs during the transition. He was the head of the Mouvement Social pour le Renouveau (MSR) party, formed for the 2006 elections. The MSR had its roots in the "Solidarité Paysanne" movement of the 1980s and 1990s.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

Lumbi was appointed Minister of State for Infrastructure, Public Works and Reconstruction on 5 February 2007, in the first cabinet of Prime Minister Antoine Gizenga. In the second cabinet, announced on 25 November 2007, he retained the ministry. He was confirmed in the ministry on 26 October 2008, in the first cabinet of Prime Minister Adolphe Muzito.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

In 2007 Lumbi visited Beijing, laying the groundwork for an important economic agreement with China. The deal provides for 6.3 billion euros of investment, with 4.2 billion for public infrastructure development and 2.1 for mining works. Project management would be the responsibility of a joint enterprise, Sicomines, in which the DRC holds 32% of shares. The work would be assigned to the China Railway Engineering Corporation (CREC) and Synohydro Corporation, two Chinese corporations. It would include construction of roads and railways, hospitals, universities and housing. In return, the Chinese were promised access to copper, cobalt and gold supplies. The barter arrangement reduced the possibility of corruption, an important consideration in the DRC.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

In 2009 the World Bank expressed concern about the way the projects were being managed. A commission set up by the DRC National Assembly found that over US$23 million in signature bonuses had gone missing, apparently siphoned off by local government officials and officers of the state-owned Gecamnines. There were also complaints that the Chinese were failing to use local labor as agreed, and were using cheap imported materials for projects not covered by the project. Some parts of the project had stalled.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

In the second Muzito cabinet, announced in February 2010, he was replaced as Minister for Infrastructure by Fridolin Kasweshi Musoka. He was named special advisor to President Joseph Kabila on matters of security. Lumbi's Mouvement social pour le renouveau was preparing to compete in the upcoming elections as a member of Kabila's ruling coalition.<\/p>\r\n<\/p>

<\/p>\n \n \n

<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Pierre Lumbi Okongo \u2011 a politician in the Democratic Republic of the Congo – passed away on 14 June 2020 after contracting Covid-19 in Kinshasa. Lumbi was one of the founders of the Peasant Solidarity (Solidarité Paysanne) movement, which gained legal status in 1985. The initial purpose was to help the rural masses express their […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":8870,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[6184,47,7019],"tags":[1051,114,5746,113,792,6710,7756,6709,6224,7645,6237,6434,6435],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/personmatters.com\/Remembering_Covid_19_Victims\/wp-content\/uploads\/imageholder\/uploads\/Pierre_Lumbi.jpeg?fit=%2C&ssl=1","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2184,"url":"https:\/\/personmatters.com\/Remembering_Covid_19_Victims\/?p=2184","url_meta":{"origin":8869,"position":0},"title":"G\u00e9rard Mulumba Kalemba, bishop","date":"April 16, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"G\u00e9rard Mulumba Kalemba \u2011 a Congolese prelate of the Catholic Church \u2013 died on 15 April 2020 due to COVID-19 in Kinshasa. He was 82. \u00a0 Born in Kananga, Mulumba Kalemba was ordained to the priesthood in 1967. He was appointed bishop of Mweka in 1989, serving until his retirement\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Congo"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":9845,"url":"https:\/\/personmatters.com\/Remembering_Covid_19_Victims\/?p=9845","url_meta":{"origin":8869,"position":1},"title":"Jean-Michel Bokamba-Yangouma, politician","date":"June 24, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Jean-Michel Bokamba-Yangouma \u2011 a Congolese politician \u2013 passed away on 23 June 2020 after suffering from Covid-19 complications. He was a prominent political figure from the 1970s to the 1990s, heading the Congolese Trade Union Confederation (Conf\u00e9d\u00e9ration syndicale congolaise, CSC). He was the President of the General Movement for the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Congo"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3383,"url":"https:\/\/personmatters.com\/Remembering_Covid_19_Victims\/?p=3383","url_meta":{"origin":8869,"position":2},"title":"Joachim Yhombi-Opango, politician","date":"March 31, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Jacques Joachim Yhombi-Opango, a Congolese politician, died on 30 March 2020 after suffering from Covid-19. \u00a0 He was an army officer who became Congo-Brazzaville's first general and served as Head of State of the People's Republic of the Congo from 1977 to 1979. He was the President of the Rally\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Congo"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2375,"url":"https:\/\/personmatters.com\/Remembering_Covid_19_Victims\/?p=2375","url_meta":{"origin":8869,"position":3},"title":"Bernard Stalter, politician","date":"April 14, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Bernard Stalter was a French entrepreneur and politician died on 13 April in Strasbourg at the age of 63 due to COVID 19. Stalter was born on 12 March 1957 in Brumath. At age 14, he began a hairdressing apprenticeship. After he became a certified hairdresser, he worked for the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "France"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7795,"url":"https:\/\/personmatters.com\/Remembering_Covid_19_Victims\/?p=7795","url_meta":{"origin":8869,"position":4},"title":"Tawfiq al-Yasiri, politician","date":"June 15, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Tawfiq al-Yasiri \u2011 an Iraqi military officer and politician \u2011 died on 14 June 2020 in Al Diwaniyah, making him the first politician in Iraq to die from the COVID-19 pandemic.. He was a brigadier general in the events of 1991 in Iraq, and led opponents of Saddam Hussein's regime\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "High Profilers"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8532,"url":"https:\/\/personmatters.com\/Remembering_Covid_19_Victims\/?p=8532","url_meta":{"origin":8869,"position":5},"title":"Pierre Gilet, General Practitioner","date":"April 9, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Pierre Gilet, 64, a General Practitioner, Dannemarie, France \u2013 passed away on 8 April, 2020, after suffering from COVID-19. Gilet was 64 years old. \"In general, kids cry at the doctor.\u00a0At Doctor's home, mine only laughed.\u00a0He was our country doctor.\u00a0I almost never went to the pediatrician thanks to him, \u201drecalls\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "France"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/personmatters.com\/Remembering_Covid_19_Victims\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8869"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/personmatters.com\/Remembering_Covid_19_Victims\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/personmatters.com\/Remembering_Covid_19_Victims\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/personmatters.com\/Remembering_Covid_19_Victims\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/personmatters.com\/Remembering_Covid_19_Victims\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8869"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/personmatters.com\/Remembering_Covid_19_Victims\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8869\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/personmatters.com\/Remembering_Covid_19_Victims\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8870"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/personmatters.com\/Remembering_Covid_19_Victims\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8869"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/personmatters.com\/Remembering_Covid_19_Victims\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8869"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/personmatters.com\/Remembering_Covid_19_Victims\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8869"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}