Sunday 4 March 2007

The Mysterious Case of the Phantom Minister

It seems that the Democratic Republic of Congo's new Minister of Trade is a genuine nonentity:

The so-called case of the "phantom" government minister, Andre Kasongo Ilunga, has puzzled politicians in the war-torn African nation in recent days.

The case came to light when Prime Minister Antoine Gizenga began to appoint ministers to his new cabinet.

The elusive Mr Ilunga got the post of trade but resigned before taking it up.

The party's leader, Honorius Kisimba Ngoy, leader of Unafec, a party allied to President Joseph Kabila, allegedly invented Mr Ilunga in the hope that submitting the name of an unknown along with his own would ensure he was appointed to the cabinet.

The stunt apparently backfired when the prime minister appointed Mr Ilunga.

I think that Mr Ngoy, who sadly lost his job over this, has hit upon a new idea for improving the quality of government, applicable all over the world. After all, think how much better off this country would be if John Prescott were also replaced with a phantom minister!

No comments: