Having sold his castle built on a mountain village of Kimono, in western DRC, President Joseph Kabila has started moving his 28,000 cattle to Tanzania.
The villagers of Lukonzolwa, Kilwa and Pweto which surround the President’s ranch first made this revelation last week according to Congolese media.
The cows reportedly left the farm at Kundelungu and passed through Pweto to Moba, and embarked on the trip to Tanzania.
Out the 28,000 heads of cattle, reports show that only 6,000 were currently remaining in the farm.
Local media speculate that the cattle were being transferred to one of President Kabila’s farms which he purchased recently in neighboring Tanzania.
Born in the Eastern Kivu Province, President Kabila was raised and spent the better part of his childhood in Tanzania, and speaks fluent Swahili and English.
Due to his father’s status as an enemy of Zairian strongman Mobutu Sese Seko, Kabila posed as a Tanzanian in his school years to avoid detection by Zairean intelligence agents
The recent development raised questions amongst Congolese about whether or not President Kabila was preparing for his departure.
Kabila’s term is set to expire this year as per the constitution adopted in 2006. Officials have suggested elections will be held November 2016.
One of the local observers remarked, “Only his (Kabila) mad dogs don’t see and realize that this is the end of the reign.”