Brief Report for the General Assembly held on Saturday January 6th, 2024 in Goma DRCongo
After twenty years of try and error COJESKI North Kivu put in place the whole administration for her sustainable development
Dr. Nzigire presiding over the General Assembly on Saturday January 8th, 2023
COJESKI North Kivu was established in 1998 as the Provincial Coordination of COJESKI/DRC in North Kivu, it enjoys like other coordination the autonomy to organize itself at the provincial level. Since then COJESKI North Kivu failed to put in place structures that can ensure her development.
Since 2022 we put in place strategies to modernize the organization which have been almost completed this year 2024, and as such with the whole structures in place COJESKI North Kivu becomes the first Provincial Coordination in DRC with legitimate office bearers, we hope this will inspire others in order to make efforts to fulfil the constitution duties.
Two events spark this move speedily:
Participants to the General Assembly and for this time young girls were fairly represented
The first was the desire for a long-term development strategy for COJESKI North Kivu which is based on the current situation of the country. With the current democratization of DRC it is now important to put in place permanent structures which will play a role in the society according to the situation.
The second was the embezzlement of funds by Jean Pascal Mugaruka who was over the years the interim Coordinator. Towards the end of July 2023 Jean Pascal Mugaruka who was the main signatory of the Bank Account introduced secretory his wife Bora Uzima as signatory and in the process they withdrew some money from the account and disappeared in August 2023.
Two General Assembly Meetings
The first General Assembly Meeting was held in October 2023 and elected both the Coordination and the Provincial Board of Directors, then the send General Assembly Meeting which took place in January 6th, 2024 in which the elected leaders were officially presented and approved by the participants.
In total 6 Directors were presented as required by the constitution and 5 members of the Coordination where also officially introduced and approved.
The list of the current office bearers will appear in the website as soon as possible.
The General Assembly on Saturday January 6th, 2024
Assisted by Kulihoshi M Pecos, the Chairperson conducted the meeting as Germain took notes.
The meeting of the General Assembly chaired by the Chairperson of the Board of Directors started by an opening prayer, followed by self-introduction of the representatives of members organizations, then the presentation of the new teams, the views of the participants, the reactions questions and answers and then the plan for the this year and the next year, the meeting ended with concluding remarks and a prayer. Participants shared together snacks and then everyone left at leisure.
Debate and questions from the participants
Two main issues were among the preoccupations of the participants, which included the sustainability of COJESKI rights form its legal document in reference to the constitution. On this point members agreed to put in place a specific committee that will come up with recommendations for amendments. The second issue was connected to the strategy of the advocacy, some members were concerned that COJESKI may appear as a pressure group which will oppose the government and that may put members to security risks but cause unrest to the organization and affect its projects.
On this again it was resolved that member organizations are in different Thematic Groups, and advocacy including pressure groups are in their own thematic group, we hope that their actions may not affect other projects especially that they will work as COJESKI North Kivu but rather as a Thematic Group of COJESKI North Kivu.
Monthly meetings for all members
Listening to various suggestions including creating a space where young people can express from.
The General Assembly resolved also that in additional to regular meetings of different thematic groups, there should be also monthly meetings bringing together all members in order to share information and plan for common activities, that recommendation was adopted pending the administrative requirement for a meeting mainly funding for these meetings.
