Odette Babandoa Etoa
Congolese politician
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Odette Babandoa Etoa (born 11 January 1961) is a Congolese opposition politician and former government minister.
Odette Babandoa Etoa | |
|---|---|
| Minister of Transport and Communications | |
| In office 14 March 1999 – 2 September 2000 | |
| President | Laurent-Désiré Kabila |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 11 January 1961 |
Early life and education
Career
Babandoa Etoa is a member of the Kinshasa Bar. She has worked as a magistrate and legal advisor to the Prime Minister's office. She was appointed Deputy General and the Chairperson of the Bas-Uele Railway Board.[1]
She is the President of the UPR (Patriotic Union for the Republic, party presently in the opposition in the DRCongo).[citation needed]
In 1999, she was appointed Minister of Transport and Communications by President Laurent-Désiré Kabila.[2]
In July 2000, she and her husband were arrested and accused of accepting bribes from a foreign country after meetings with senior Canadian government officials including David Kilgour and the awarding of a $41.5million contract to Quebec company Navigation Aeronav.[3] However, the Canadian company denied any bribes had been offered,[3] and others said she had been targeted for trying to expose corruption in Kabila's government.[4] Three other ministers had been arrested in the preceding weeks.[5]
She was released a day after her arrest on 7 July, and then arrested again on 13 July and released on 21 July.[6] Her husband was tried for "treason in war-time" for allowing journalists hostile to the regime to use his office.[7][6] He was sentenced to one year in jail but was released on provisional bail in August 2000.[8]
Since her departure from government, Babandoa Etoa has served as President of the Forum of Women Lawyers. She spoke out against corruption and flaws in the 2006 electoral process.[9] In 2011, she criticised Joseph Kabila and irregularities in the presidential election that she said contravened the constitution.[10]
In April 2011, Babandoa Etoa joined Vital Kamerhe's opposition party Union for the Congolese Nation,[11] later becoming Secretary General of the party.[12][13] She is sometimes referred to as "Joan of Arc" or the "Iron Lady".[1] As of 2016 she is also the "moral authority" of the Union for the Republic in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.[14]
In January 2016, she called on the Independent National Electoral Commission to fully assume its independence by publishing a detailed electoral calendar.[14]