Congo Central Government

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The Democratic Republic of the Congo is a large Central African country that is nearly three times larger than the state of Texas. The seat of government is Kinshasa and, according to the constitution, there are twenty-five separate provinces. On February 18, 2006, the country’s constitution was enacted in response to the failing authoritarian systems previously spearheaded by Mobutu Seso Seko, which brought the country entwined in regional war and poverty. The constitution outlines the relationship between the central government and the regional provinces. In pursuance of the Congolese constitution, the country has a unitary system. A unitary system is where the political powers are vested in the central authority and where the local territories …show more content…

Articles 202-204 of the constitution stipulates the powers of the central government and the regional provinces. In Article 202, the central government is is tasked with maintaining a national defense, uplifting diplomatic relationships, regulating trade, loaning money, establishing education policies, and coordinating energy program. Also, the legislative processes of commerce, companies, penal codes, judicial codes, professions, economic polices, medicine, electoral law, alcohol, war equipment, refugees are all delegated to the central authority. The central authority, based in Kinshasa, has the regulatory leverage in instilling these policies within the provinces. In Article 203, there is an outline of the “matters that are subject to concurring competence” of the central authority and the provinces like the protection of human rights, domestic security, environmental protection, philanthropic initiatives, and scientific research. Article 204 outlines the matters that provinces have dominion over like local tax duties, public works, and the inspection of cultural activities. These “shared powers” seemingly constitute to a federal system; however, these characteristics are not

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