The night of Friday 4 to Saturday 5 April 2025 was another disastrous one for the Congolese capital. Torrential rain fell on the Congolese capital, causing major flooding that caused material damage and took the lives of 33 people, according to an official statement from the Prime Minister’s Office. A further 47 people were hospitalised. According to information obtained on the spot in Kinshasa, the communes of Ngaliema, Mont-Ngafula and the Tshangu district are among the areas worst affected by this disaster.
In the face of this tragedy, Dr Debora Kayembe, a lawyer, human rights activist and committed figure in the fight for responsible governance, has raised her voice to denounce the repeated failings of the Congolese authorities. In a strong statement, she points the finger at the chronic inaction of the state, its constant improvisation in the management of the city and its lack of long-term vision. In her view, the floods that regularly plunge Kinshasa into mourning are not simply the result of natural phenomena or climate change, but are above all the direct consequence of poor governance, chaotic urbanisation and manifest irresponsibility on the part of the public administration.
For Dr Debora Kayembe, these losses of life are the result of a system that refuses to plan, to prevent and to invest seriously in urban infrastructure. She recalls that back in 2024, during a similar episode of flooding in Kinshasa, she alerted the authorities via her X account (formerly Twitter) and through her contributions to digital discussion forums (Twitter, Instagram and Facebook). At the time, she warned of the consequences of an incoherent urban policy, denouncing the absence of a master development plan and the lack of control over unplanned construction, often in high-risk areas.
She insists that the state bears primary responsibility for this situation. Allowing homes to be built on sites unsuitable for urban development, tolerating the deterioration of drainage networks and waiting for the worst to happen before taking action, shows a flagrant disregard for human life. To govern, she reminds us, is to plan ahead. Waiting for an emergency before taking action means fumbling your way through management.
Dr Debora Kayembe offers her condolences to the bereaved families. She deplores the fact that citizens, already faced with multiple precarious situations, are paying with their lives for the incompetence of the institutions that are supposed to protect them. It calls for urgent, rigorous and structured reform of Kinshasa’s urban management policy, and for public decision-makers to be made accountable.
For her, it is no longer a question of commenting on the consequences of a predicted tragedy, but of demanding concrete and lasting measures. This tragedy must not be just another event on the long list of forgotten disasters. It must become a wake-up call. And if nothing is done, it must be firmly stated that the State has chosen to be complicit in further loss of life.
The Congolese people deserve a capital that lives up to their aspirations, a city that is protected, planned and organised.
