In Lubumbashi, the Action des Patriotes pour l’Émergence du Congo (APEC) made a strong impression. Gathered at a packed Gécamines stadium, the political party of Louis Watum Kabamba, led by interim president Dominique Unyon Pewu, recorded massive new memberships while taking a firm doctrinal stance on the major political debate of the moment: constitutional revision, which it considers essential to address the country’s security and governance challenges.

The atmosphere was electric, with the national anthem and a sea of militants wearing party colours setting the tone for this political morning in Lubumbashi. For APEC leaders, this show of popular support demonstrates the party’s deep roots in the copper capital and the population’s backing of the vision of their moral authority, Louis Watum Kabamba.

A high-level delegation from Kinshasa, led by the national interim president, the Honourable Dominique Unyon Pewu, directed this political and civic gathering.

Beyond the celebratory nature of the new memberships, party officials used this platform in the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s second city to conduct a rigorous diagnosis of the current institutional framework. For APEC, the political, economic, and especially security realities of the DRC require taboos to be broken.

Speakers argued that no fundamental text can remain unchanged as society evolves. Considering a constitutional reform is not a challenge to democracy but a normal exercise in the life of a nation.

Speaking before the crowd, APEC’s interim president, Dominique Unyon Pewu, firmly placed his party – a member of Félix Tshisekedi’s Sacred Union – within the momentum for constitutional change, relying on national sovereignty:

“You are aware of the pressing issue in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It concerns changing the Constitution. Can we talk about changing the Constitution in the DRC without APEC? We base ourselves on Article 5 of the Constitution, which grants sovereignty to the Congolese people to express themselves and decide on changing the Constitution. If the people agree, who can stop us? This is why APEC, behind its moral authority, His Excellency Louis Watum Kabamba, rises and supports the project of changing the Constitution,” he stated.

By succeeding in mobilising a packed stadium, the party of Louis Watum Kabamba is not only demonstrating its organisational strength in Greater Katanga. It is also establishing itself as a key player in the national intellectual and political debate, affirming its desire to contribute to modernising the state to build more effective institutions that align with the aspirations of the Congolese people.