My Travels: Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo

Overview:

The recent history of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo) has been one of civil war and corruption. DR Congo is a vast country with immense economic resources and, until recently, has been at the center of what some observers call "Africa's world war", with widespread civilian suffering the result. The war claimed an up to six million lives, either as a direct result of fighting or because of disease and malnutrition. The war had an economic as well as a political side. Fighting was fueled by the country's vast mineral wealth, with all sides taking advantage of the anarchy to plunder natural resources. Some militias fight on in the east, where a large United Nations force is struggling to keep the peace. Opposition leader candidate Félix Tshisekedi became president in January 2019 after protracted political wrangling in the wake of a controversial election the previous month.

Source: BBC Country Profile

American Embassy Kinshasa:

The inspection took place between February 9 and 24, 2009. I was not originally assigned to this winter cycle inspection but in mid-December DAIG Charley Silver sent me an email apologizing for the late notice but asking if I would like to join the Congo inspection team. Charlie wanted me to confirm my When Actually Employed (WAE) status in terms of hours and salary as well as of my medical and security clearance. WAEs can earn up to half their salary at time of retirement and 1,080 hours in a year. In addition to Kinshasa and Brazzaville the team was inspecting Praia, Cape Verde but he didn't think I would not need to go there since Praia was a very small mission (currently 5 State American officers). Our team leader, Joe Sullivan, was an Africa expert having served as Ambassador to Zimbabwe and Angola. Among his other assignments were tours in Cuba and Israel. He was from Boston and one of two team leaders that I went to church with on an inspection. He liked Jazz and we joked about attending the North Sea jazz concert in the Netherlands. Paul Smith, our deputy, was a MC PD officer. He created a CD of our trip with music by a Congolese group highlighting the fight against AIDS. Perry Adair was the management lead and also Senior Foreign Service (SFS) having served as Management Counselor in Amman and New Delhi. He came to the Department from GAO and worked with my colleague from CGFS, Marilyn Ferdinand in Frankfurt. I learned a lot from Perry. He retired to Whatcom Lake near Bellingham, WA. Ernest J. Fischer (EJ) our CONS inspector bragged that he conducted 130 inspections since joining the OIG in 1994. Pete Stella (Security) and I served together in Rabat. Pete received a B.S. in Electrical Engineering and M.S. in Police Science and ended up as an RSO and was on his last active tour. Dennis Thatcher, IT inspector, had the distinction of serving two tours in Lagos as well as Athens. Dennis and I compared notes on cruising during our retirement. He retired to Florida.

U.S. Embassy Kinshasa had 333 Locally Employed (LE) Staff, most of which were local guards. This was a bone of contention with the Office of Diplomatic Security whether or not to have LE Staff hired locally by the embassy or have a contract guard service. Our preference was contract guards given the demands on the embassy HR office for recruiting, hiring and maintaining local guard staff. It includes the Department of State, U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), Department of Defense, and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) located on three compounds. The Management Officer was Craig Cloud with whom I reviewed their management controls and don't remember much about him but he must have done well in his career as he is presently the Ambassador in Botswana. There were concerns about excessive fuel consumption and Fire and Life Safety issues. He also mentioned an incident involving the theft of $14,000 worth of tires from the warehouse and collusion with the local guards. where The FMO was Reginald Whatley who was on his first tour if I recall and is now in Libreville, Gabon. He had issues of too many payments made in cash and not by EFT including staff salaries. He had not deployed the Paper Check Conversion program for processing accommodation exchange checks. Medical reimbursements were also made in cash. The HRO was a long-term local hire German national, Helga Muller, who was well respected in AF. She also provided regional support to Embassy Brazzaville.

Findings:

Real property issues concerned Kinshasa intensifying efforts to identify a site for a new embassy. Steady mission growth since 2007 has resulted in a lack of office space, and more growth is projected. Recent plans to begin construction of a NEC have now been pushed back to 2014 because of the inability to find a suitable site. OIG recommended sending a real estate specialist to work with post management in preparing and negotiating the transaction. There were also urgent maintenance and repairs issues with the chancery and other buildings that required expedited funding.

In terms of staffing, it was recommended that the embassy submit an updated rightsizing report to the Office of Policy, Rightsizing, and Innovation in order to identify additional International Cooperative Administrative Support Services (ICASS) positions required to support the proposed staff growth in the mission.

In the area of general services post management needed to implement an accelerated plan for replacing the oldest vehicles in the motor pool fleet, as well as for expanding the fleet of not only vehicles but drivers to accommodate additional transportation requirements resulting from mission growth. The embassy needed to hire a full-time locally employed staff member to handle all administrative tasks for managing the housing and supporting the temporary duty occupants of the office in Goma. Goma is located in Eastern Congo on Lake Kivu near the Rwandan border. It is not only dangerous due to the security situation but also threat of a major volcanic eruption. The embassy had a POL officer assigned to Goma.

There were serious problems with the administration of grants. First off, the designated Grants Officer had a warrant of $25,000 and was breaking up grants for hundreds of thousands of $U.S. for the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) program into smaller amounts. Grant files were incomplete, not closed out and funds not disbursed were not de-obligated.

The Human Resources Officer (HRO) should schedule quarterly visits for its HR specialist to Embassy Brazzaville to provide technical assistance and support. There should be a catastrophic health insurance plan for locally employed staff. Procedures needed to be established to ensure the timely completion of performance evaluations for the locally employed staff.

Embassy Kinshasa participates in the revenue-generating recycling program using the funds received from approximately 6,000 students per year taking English language courses at the Congo American Language Institute (CALI). Almost $1 million in recycling funds was received in FY 2008. These funds are used to pay the salaries of 43 LE teachers and staff and to purchase required textbooks and educational materials. The request for participating in the program for FY 2009 was pending and OIG supported the post request.

We recommended that the embassy terminate its existing machine readable fee collection/nonimmigrant visa appointment contract and resume in house fee and appointment processing. There was an issue with accounting for machine readable visa fees to determine if any were actually missing and, if so, attempt to recover them. The embassy should request a waiver to the regulations to allow for the use of the suspense deposit abroad account for nonofficial U.S. Government payments.

Highlights:

Walking the diplomatic quarter next to the Congo river close to the hotel.

   Lunch at Al Dar Lebanese restaurant in the center of town.
   Watch out for the "shégués” youth gangs roaming around Kinshasa.
   Visiting the Bonobos.
   Crossing the Congo to Brazzaville.

Kinshasa Skyline

Perry Adair, Dennis Thatcher and me playing tennis at the Grand Hotel court

Visit to the Kokolopori Bonobo Reserve in the Congo basin.

Bonobos are humankind's closest relatives, along with chimpanzees, yet most people don't even know that bonobos exist! There were three separate areas with electric fence and over 50 Bonobos including eight orphans taken care of by Congo ladies. They need love and affection when they are young. We took a mile and a half walk over some pretty steep terrain to see them.

They live only in one country: the Democratic Republic of Congo. Bonobos were last great ape species to be discovered, and could be the first to go extinct if we do not act quickly to save them and their rainforest home. Bonobos stand apart from the other great apes in important ways.

The Bonobo Conservation Initiative (BCI) is dedicated to ensuring the survival of the bonobo and its tropical forest habitat in the Congo Basin. By working with indigenous Congolese people through cooperative conservation and community development programs, as well as on the national and international levels, BCI is establishing new protected areas and leading efforts to safeguard bonobos wherever they are found.