Publication · Report Public finances · Democratic Republic of the Congo
The cost of running the DRC's institutions
The systematic plunder of national revenue by political elites.
Rather than revisiting corrupt practices that have already been widely denounced, this report offers a different way of reading predation: an inequitable allocation of the budget that allows a handful of elites to appropriate public resources. Setting finance acts, Court of Audit reports and interviews with political and civil-society figures against one another, it puts what the institutions consume face to face with what they actually allocate to the population — then proposes seven measures to bring it to an end.
The report itself is published in French. This page sets out its findings, its figures and its recommendations in English.
Key figures
What the report shows
- The country consumes more than it invests. In the first half of 2024 the institutions' operating expenditure ran beyond forecast, while the financing of reforms, the running of devolved services and student grants saw no disbursement at all.
- Opacity shields elite pay. In the absence of an equitable pay policy, the secrecy maintained around salaries, bonuses and “invisible funds” makes any demand for accountability impossible.
- Parallel and obsolete bodies continue to be funded. Duplication between anti-corruption services, a judicial training college abolished by decree yet still financed, bodies that have lost their purpose but remain in the budget: all of it credit taken away from investment projects.
- Political commitments remain verbal. Cutting the cost of the institutions has appeared in the government's programme and in presidential speeches for years, without any lasting effect on the budget.
- The debate has two faces. It is at once a populist talking point for public decision-makers and the expression of a genuine demand for social justice, voiced across every layer of Congolese society.
Our recommendations
- Streamline budget-hungry institutionsStarting with the Senate, whose abolition would free up a projected saving of more than 91 million dollars.
- Cap the number of ministerial postsGovernments have averaged 55 members since 2007, each one entitling its holder to arrival, operating and departure allowances.
- Abolish parallel and obsolete bodiesAnd reallocate their funding to priority investment projects.
- Rein in excessive benefitsThose enjoyed by the officials who run the institutions, both during their term and after it ends.
- Move to programme-based budgetingMore than 80 % of resources allocated to projects of public interest, no more than 20 % to running the institutions and paying those who lead them.
- Publish public servants' payMake actual salaries and bonuses public at every grade, and convene a national round table on public-sector pay.
- Account for it, institution by institutionEvery institution should justify its use of state resources to the population, as the decree on budgetary governance requires.
Method
The report sets the finance acts and the reports of the Court of Audit against interviews conducted with Congolese political figures and civil-society organisations.
Published in February 2025 by UNIS with the “Le Congo n'est pas à vendre” (CNPAV) coalition.
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