Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi prepares to receive German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas in the presidential palace in Kinshasa on Sept. 5, 2019. Tshisekedi is facing an uphill battle to tackle his country's widespread corruption.
Eight months after Felix Tshisekedi was sworn in as the Democratic Republic of the Congo's new president, the country finally has a government — but it's old in all but name. Two-thirds of the Cabinet positions (or 42 of 65 posts) in Tshisekedi's government went to members of the coalition of former President Joseph Kabila, who continues to pull the levers of power in the giant country, while just 23 posts went to the new president's Direction for Change. In last year's presidential election, Tshisekedi ran on a platform of getting tough on the country's endemic graft — much of it committed by the members of Kabila's circle — but in his time as the Democratic Republic of the Congo's leader so far, he has hardly proven thrifty.
