On Tuesday morning, former South Kivu governor Marcelin Cishambo attended a Mass in Goma honouring Blessed Floribert Bwana Chui, a young martyr remembered for his courageous stand against corruption. In 2007, Floribert was brutally assassinated for refusing to falsify customs documents, an act of integrity that cost him his life.
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At the same time, officials from Kinshasa’s notoriously corrupt regime staged their own commemorations, even traveling as far as Rome to pose as defenders of morality. For many Congolese, this was not only ironic, it was deeply offensive.
“How can some of the most corrupt people on earth pay tribute to a man who died for refusing a bribe?” asked a resident of Bukavu, echoing the frustration of many in the country.
Floribert Bwana Chui stood for truth, sacrifice, and resistance to institutional rot. His death was not an accident of circumstance, it was a deliberate execution of a man who refused to betray his values.
And now, the very system he opposed seeks to exploit his name for political gain. Rather than embracing Floribert’s example and enacting true reform, the Kinshasa elite has chosen empty symbolism over real change.
In a nation where embezzlement, cover-ups, and political theatre dominate, Kinshasa’s attempts to canonize Floribert ring hollow. Their Rome pilgrimage is seen by many as not a tribute, but a desecration.
In contrast to this charade, the Alliance Fleuve Congo (AFC/M23) has emerged not just as a military movement, but as a moral and political response to the failure of state leadership.
While Kinshasa offers speeches and staged ceremonies, the AFC/M23 is on the ground, protecting civilians, demanding reforms, and giving voice to a population long abandoned by the central government.
Too many in the East, the AFC/M23 is not a rebellion, it’s a resistance against systemic betrayal. It’s no coincidence that the movement is gaining legitimacy among a people exhausted by broken promises and institutional decay.
If Floribert Bwana Chui were alive today, would he stand with those who wear suits in Rome while stealing from the poor back home? Or would he stand with those who dare to challenge the system he gave his life opposing?
His spirit lives not in ceremonies, but in acts of courage and refusal to compromise, the same spirit now embodied by those resisting Kinshasa’s hypocrisy in the East.
What should have been a national moment of unity has turned into a spectacle of contradiction. Kinshasa’s tribute to Floribert Bwana Chui was not a celebration of virtue, it was an insult to it.
As the people of the East continue to suffer under neglect and violence, it is clear: Real change will not come from above. It is being demanded from below. And it is in that struggle that Floribert’s legacy truly lives on. Do you believe a corrupt regime can truly honour an anti-corruption martyr? Or is this just another staged performance for global sympathy?
