MINISTRY OF FOREIGN TRADE AND INDUSTRY: DESCENT OF MINISTERS JULIEN PALUKU KAHONGYA AND JUSTIN KALUMBA MWANA AT THE KASUMBALESA BORDER POST IN UPPER KATANGA, ON THE BORDER WITH ZAMBIA: TOWARDS THE RESTORATION OF STATE AUTHORITY WITH ZERO FACE TOLERANCE TO IRREGULAR PRACTICES
Continuing their official mission in the province of Haut-Katanga, the Minister of Foreign Trade, Julien Paluku Kahongya and his colleague from industry, Entrepreneurship and SME Development, Justin Kalumba Mwana Ngongo, accompanied by the Interim Governor, Martin Kazembe and the Director General of the Congolese Control Office-OCC, Pierre Lohohola carried out this Tuesday, July 7, 2026, a descent to the border post of Kasumbalesa, on the border with Zambia.
Objective, to feel the realities on the flow of transactions between the Democratic Republic of Congo and Zambia, as well as with the rest of the world, the challenges facing the Government and to see how to envisage the type of solutions, with the contribution of the total dematerialization of the procedures of pre-customs clearance, customs clearance and post-customs clearance of goods, launched last December by the Prime Minister, Judith Suminwa, to thus reduce costs and delays during commercial operations, maximize the public revenue and sell the country's image well.
During the technical meeting with the heads of border services, the Minister of Foreign Trade, in the name of the Government, whistled the end of the recess, announcing zero tolerance to put an end to irregular practices including the Bamba roho phenomenon, with this fraudulent system, vehicles are oversized, the balancega phenomenon, the splitting of goods, the undervaluation and denaturation of goods with the complicity of certain agents; practices that are bleeding the public treasury, with a loss of 2.5 billion dollars per year, from which he instructed the company ITM Border Service to integrate a segment to monitor the Bilanga phenomenon, before recommending collaboration between services and the obligatory use of the Comprehensive Single Window for Foreign Trade-GUCE.
On behalf of the Government, the Minister of Commerce announced the upcoming construction of the Kasumbalesa one-stop border post and the modern dry port, but also the launch of the Simplified Commercial Regime-RECOS between the DRC and Zambia, a special regime which grants several facilities to small cross-border traders and populations living along the borders.
This descent was culminated by a guided tour.
