At 1:20 AM, when most of Kinshasa was asleep, Patrick Muyaya, the DRC’s government spokesman, was wide awake, desperately firing off tweets. His frantic posts on X (formerly Twitter) were a feeble attempt to contain the political firestorm ignited by US Senator Ronny Jackson’s damning testimony on the DRC crisis.
”#RDC: What he said is his personal opinion and does not in any way commit the American government.”
It was a poor attempt at damage control. The problem for Kinshasa was that Jackson’s testimony wasn’t just an opinion—it was a brutal exposé of a failed state.
In his remarks, Jackson did what no Western politician had dared to do before: tell the truth about the complete collapse of governance in eastern DRC. His words landed like an earthquake in Kinshasa, shaking the government to its core.
“There is no ability for the government in Kinshasa to actually control that area right now. They do not have the resources or the ability to really impact what’s happening there.”
With a single statement, Jackson annihilated the DRC’s long-standing claim that it was a sovereign state battling foreign aggression. Instead, he painted a picture of a regime that wasn’t just weak—but complicit in the lawlessness gripping its eastern provinces.
“And they are actually becoming, in my mind, just another entity there that is trying to take advantage of the resources and get what they can.”
This was the ultimate humiliation. Kinshasa, which had spent years framing itself as a victim, was now being called out as just another predator in the chaotic scramble for eastern Congo’s vast mineral wealth. The government that had spent millions lobbying in Washington suddenly found itself completely exposed.
Muyaya’s midnight meltdown wasn’t just a reaction—it was a signal of how deeply shaken Kinshasa was.
”#Rwanda is waging war on us because we want to improve governance and bring more transparency to the mining sector in this part of the country.”
Transparency? Jackson’s testimony blew that myth apart.
“When I was there, I was shocked at the level of corruption. There’s evidence everywhere that members of the government and their families are getting filthy rich from what’s going on there while the population is starving and living in a horrible environment.”
Jackson ripped through the DRC’s carefully manufactured image. He spoke of a government riddled with corruption, manipulating exchange rates, and extorting foreign businesses.
His expose is one thing. Talks of the example of a Swiss company being slapped with an outrageous $80 billion tax bill only to have it “generously reduced” to $1 billion was a damning indictment of Kinshasa’s mafia-style governance. Does the world know about this ?
“Bribes are a big deal. The Chinese can afford to pay them, they’re willing to pay them. We as the United States are not.”
Jackson’s testimony confirmed what many had long suspected—Kinshasa had sold its soul to the highest bidder, with China as the biggest beneficiary.
But the most devastating blow came when Jackson exposed the root cause of the conflict: Kinshasa’s refusal to recognize its own citizens.
“I think that the Congolese government has to do a couple of things. One, they have to address the domestic issue. There are a large number of people in the DRC who are not treated as Congolese citizens, including most of the members of M23.”
For years, Kinshasa had deflected blame onto Rwanda, claiming M23 was a foreign-backed insurgency. But Jackson shattered this illusion. His expose has just let the doors wide open.
“Honestly, M23, with or without Rwanda right now, is pretty much uncontested in the area. They’re just doing anything they want right now, and the Congolese military is not even fighting back. As a matter of fact, they’re just running away ahead of M23, or in some cases, they’re laying down their weapons and joining M23.”
The DRC’s military wasn’t losing the war—it had given up entirely.
Jackson’s testimony didn’t just expose Kinshasa’s incompetence—it highlighted its hypocrisy. While the government cried about sovereignty, its own soldiers were surrendering to the very rebels it claimed to be fighting.
And just when Kinshasa thought it couldn’t get worse, the lobbying empire it had built in Washington collapsed overnight.
The Fall of Karl Von Batten—Kinshasa’s Million-Dollar Fraud
For years, the DRC government had pumped millions of dollars into PR firms and lobbyists, trying to spin a false narrative. At the center of this fraudulent operation was a man with an absurdly long name:
“Dr.” Karl-Marx-Edward-Ikemefuna-William-George/Okeke-Von-Batten.
Despite his Nigerian origins, he went by the German-sounding alias Karl Von Batten and sold himself as Kinshasa’s key lobbyist in Washington.
But it was all a scam.
“His bio lists ALL top-flight universities as his alma maters, only he’s never set foot in any of them. His PhD? Phony.”
Von Batten had conned Kinshasa out of millions, promising influence in Washington. But as Jackson’s testimony dominated headlines, it became clear—Kinshasa’s money had gone to waste.
“Kinshasa was comfortable because it thought it had the right people protecting its image. This statement from Jackson? It pulled the rug out from under them.”
Von Batten’s silence was deafening. The same man who had spent years spewing Kinshasa’s propaganda was now nowhere to be found. The DRC’s once-powerful lobbying machine had imploded.
Behind closed doors, panic gripped the Congolese government.
The media narrative had changed overnight. The usual tactics—blaming Rwanda, spinning victimhood, silencing critics—weren’t working anymore.
For the first time in years, Kinshasa wasn’t in control of the story. The world was seeing the DRC for what it truly was—a corrupt, broken state teetering on the edge of collapse.
And Muyaya’s 1:20 AM meltdown?
It was just the beginning.
The reckoning has begun.
Very good https://t.ly/tndaA
Good https://t.ly/tndaA