The controversy continues to swell in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) over the real cost of the last Francophonie Games in Kinshasa (July 28 to August 6, 2023). The Minister of Finance, Nicolas Kazadi, opened the hostilities by affirming last week that theThe sporting and cultural event would have seen its budget almost multiplied by seven, increasing from 48 to 324 million dollars. An analysis report from the Center for Research in Public Finance and Local Development (CREFDL) opens a new door by revealing serious over-invoicing of projects selected for construction or renovation work on competition sites. His study focused on the investment part. She reports that her budget would have increased from an initial estimate of $36 million to more than $195 million after signing 15 contracts for the work. Faced with such an increase, all contracts were terminated. But in January 2022, the same service providers would have been recruited again for the same types of work, with a slight drop in costs, this time bringing the budget to just under $150 million. The report also points out that the investment budget has evolved significantly, in the space of just three months, going from a forecast of 149,790 million dollars to just over 206 million. It also reveals an abusive use of the direct negotiation procedure for all works contracts, therefore without calls for tenders, and the absence of registration of 90% of projects in the 2022 and 2023 finance laws.
