
Mr. Jean-Michel Sama Lukonde Kyenge has been Prime Minister of the DRC since 2021.
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Source: Prime Minister's Office 2024 https://www.primature.gouv.cd/2024/02/12/le-premier-ministre-jean-michel-sama-lukonde-va-renforcer-le-pouvoir-du-saemape/
Prime Minister Jean-Michel Sama Lukonde to strengthen the power of SAEMAPE
Among the mining sector leaders with whom Prime Minister Jean-Michel Sama Lukonde met on the sidelines of the Indaba Mining forum he recently attended in South Africa is the Director General of the Service for Assistance and Supervision of Artisanal and Small-Scale Mines (SAEMAPE).
Jean-Paul Kapongo, who deemed it necessary to meet with the head of government to explain the difficulties he encounters on a daily basis in the operation of his department, is pleased with the outcome. He states that the Prime Minister has entrusted the handling of the SAEMAPE file to his deputy chief of staff to resolve the situation.
"It was important, in such a setting, to meet our head of government, His Excellency Prime Minister Sama Lukonde, who, moreover, received us with a privilege, because it was important that I could try to explain to him, since my advent at the head of SAEMAPE, the difficulties that my department is going through. SAEMAPE supervises millions of artisans, who live in a lower class and whom we are trying to raise so that they become those leaders to whom the President of the Republic had referred, when he spoke of making the Congolese millionaires. We explained to the Prime Minister that since its creation,
SAEMAPE has no support for its operations. We have no administrative regulations. The Prime Minister promised to find a solution to this situation. He has even already made his deputy chief of staff available to us, who will handle this matter. It's a gamble that has paid off for us. Then came the 16%, which, according to the Mining Code, must serve as operating costs for the service. The disorder observed today at mining sites is due to SAEMAPE's failure to collect these fees, even though they are recognized by Article 198 of the Mining Code and Article 402 of the Mining Regulations. These are the fees that could have allowed us to supervise and control the cooperatives. These are millions of US dollars that we cannot trace. We don't know whose hands they fall into, even though we have our own technical service. And since we don't have these fees, these cooperatives go to the Chinese and Indians. "It creates disorder and dysfunction. We have raised this issue with the Prime Minister, who has also promised to find a solution," he explained.
It is worth noting that Saemape is the secular arm of the Congolese government for the support of artisanal and small-scale miners.