Jean-Baptiste Kibwe
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Kilwa, Belgian Congo[1]
Jean-Baptiste Kibwe | |
|---|---|
| Minister of Finance of the State of Katanga | |
| In office 4 August 1960 – 21 January 1963 (end of the secession) | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 3 March 1924 Kilwa, Belgian Congo[1] |
| Died | 21 November 2008 (aged 84) Brussels, Belgium[2] |
| Political party | Confédération des associations tribales du Katanga |
Jean-Baptiste Kibwe Pampala Uwitwa (Kilwa, 3 March 1924 — Brussels, 21 November 2008) was a Congolese-Katangese politician who was the Minister of Justice and Vice-President of the State of Katanga.
Jean-Baptiste Kibwe was a Bwile, population group which mostly lives around Lake Mweru, Pweto territory. He attended primary school and four years of Catholic secondary school. Afterwards, he worked for the railway firm of the Comité spécial du Katanga (CSK) for a year. From 1948 to 1949, he was a clerk at the Banque du Congo belge. In 1949, he became a civil servant working for the Belgian colonial administration until 1956. From 1954 to 1956, he was a judge at the municipal court of Élisabethville.[3] In 1956, he quit the colonial administration to take up a mandate at the customary tribunal.[4]
Political career
When the provincial governor Moïse Tshombe of the newly independent Congo proclaimed the independence of his province, Kibwe first became the Minister of Finance, and then from 30 August 1960, Vice-President of the Ministerial Council. Together with Tshombe and Godefroid Munongo, he was one of the strongmen of the newly installed regime.[5]
Involvement in Lumumba's murder
Kibwe's name is often cited as a major player in the murder of Congolese Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba. On the day when Lumumba, Joseph Okito, and Maurice Mpolo were transferred from Léopoldville to Élisabethville, Kibwe was doing a few test rounds of Austrian jeeps, together with Secretary of State of Public Works Gabriel Kitenge. Munongo, on his way to Luano airport, told Kibwe that "three packages" would be delivered, namely the three Léopoldville politicians. Later that day, Kibwe attended the execution of Lumumba and his two colleagues, about sixty kilometres from Élisabethville.[6]