Jean Bolikango
Jean Bolikango, later Bolikango Akpolokaka Gbukulu Nzete Nzube, was a Congolese educator, writer, and politician. He served twice as Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of the Congo, in September 1960 and from February to August 1962. Enjoying substantial popularity among the Bangala people, he headed the Parti de l'Unité Nationale and worked as a key opposition member in Parliament in the early 1960s.
Bolikango began his career in the Belgian Congo as a teacher in Catholic schools, and became a prominent member of Congolese society as the leader of a cultural association. He wrote an award-winning novel and worked as a journalist before turning to politics in the late 1950s. Though he held a top communications post in the colonial administration, he became a leader in the push for independence, making him one of the "fathers of independence" in the Congo. The Republic of the Congo became independent in 1960 and Bolikango attempted to organise a national political base that would support his bid for a prestigious office in the new government. He succeeded in establishing the Parti de l'Unité Nationale and promoted both a united Congo and strong ties with Belgium. Older than most of his contemporaries and commanding significant respect—especially among his Bangala peers, he was seen as the Congo's "elder statesman". Regardless, his attempts to secure a position in the government failed and he became a leading member of the opposition in Parliament.
As the country became embroiled in a domestic crisis, the first government was dislodged and succeeded by several different administrations. Bolikango served as Deputy Prime Minister in one of the new governments before a partial state of stability was reestablished in 1961. He mediated between warring factions in the Congo and briefly served once again as Deputy Prime Minister in 1962 before returning to the parliamentary opposition. After Joseph-Désiré Mobutu took power in 1965, Bolikango became a minister in his government. Mobutu soon dismissed him but appointed him to the political bureau of the Mouvement Populaire de la Révolution. Bolikango left the bureau in 1970. He left Parliament in 1975 and died seven years later. His grandson created the Jean Bolikango Foundation in his memory to promote social progress. The President of the Congo posthumously awarded Bolikango a medal in 2005 for his long career in public service.
Early life
Jean Bolikango was born in Léopoldville, Belgian Congo, on 4 February 1909 to a Bangala family from Équateur Province. In 1917 he enrolled in St. Joseph's Institute, graduating in December 1925 after six years of primary school, two years of pedagogical studies, and one year of stenography and typing courses. He became a licensed primary school teacher the following year. Bolikango taught at Scheutist schools and finally St. Joseph's Institute until 1958. He instructed a total of 1,300 students, including future Prime Minister Joseph Iléo, future Prime Minister Cyrille Adoula, future Minister of Finance Arthur Pinzi, future Minister of Social Affairs Jacques Massa, future dramatist Albert Mongita, and future Catholic Cardinal Joseph Malula. In 1946 he became the president of the Association des Anciens élèves des pères de Scheut, a position he held until his death.That year Bolikango, as the leader of the capital évolués, worked closely with missionary Raphaël de la Kethulle de Ryhove to establish the Union des Interets Sociaux Congolais, a cultural society for leaders of elite Congolese associations. He then became its vice president. The organisation was viewed favorably by the colonial administration for its attachment to Belgian social ideals, though it would later become a forum for revolutionary politics. In 1954 Bolikango founded and, for a time, served as general chairman of the Liboka Lya Bangala, the first Bangala ethnic association, based in Léopoldville. By 1957 it encompassed 48 affiliated tribal organisations and had 50,000 members. He authored a novel in Lingala entitled Mondjeni-Mobé: Le Hardi, which won a consolation prize for creative writing from the Conference on African Studies at the International Fair in Ghent in 1948. He also made a submission to the 1949 contest, but no prize was awarded. Bolikango soon befriended Joseph Kasa-Vubu and sponsored his election as secretary-general of ADAPÉS in order to bring him into UNISCO, thereby furthering the latter's political standing. Bolikango eventually married a woman named Claire. He also obtained a carte de mérite civique from the Belgian administration and served on the commission responsible for its assignment to deserving Congolese.
Bolikango first went abroad when he attended Kethulle de Ryhove's funeral in Belgium in 1956. During his return trip he stopped in Paris to meet African members of the French Parliament. That year he met a handful of his former students and other Congolese leaders in his home. Together they drafted the first Congolese political manifesto, Manifeste de Conscience Africaine. In 1958 he resigned from his teaching post and went to Brussels to represent Catholic education at the Expo 58 event, holding responsibility for public relations at the Missions Pavilion. This led him to study press, radio, television, film, and mass education techniques at the Office of Information and Public Relations for the Belgian Congo and Ruanda-Urundi. In August 1959 he was appointed Assistant Commissioner of Information in the office, making him one of only two Congolese to ever hold a second grade civil servant position in the Belgian colonial administration. In that capacity he initiated a comparative study of information services across Sub-Saharan Africa, compiled details on Congolese politicians, gave numerous speeches, and helped design Bantu language courses at the University of Ghent. He regularly wrote for the Léopoldville monthly La Voix du Congolais and the Catholic newspaper La Croix du Congo. In 1960 Bolikango started his own newspaper, La Nation Congalaise. In his contributions he frequently advocated for equal pay between black and whites for the same labor.
Political career
Beliefs
Bolikango was older than most of his political contemporaries and was regarded as the Congo's "elder statesman". He was labeled conservative and "pro-Belgian". He considered the Senegalese poet and politician Léopold Sédar Senghor to be a principal influence on his beliefs. He also admired Félix Houphouët-Boigny of Côte d'Ivoire for his "wisdom and calmness". Like other members of the original Congolese establishment, Bolikango sought a gradual decolonisation process during which the Belgian authorities were to be amicably negotiated with. He believed the Congo should be united in a broad fashion and supported the formation of a union of African states.Early organisation
In 1953 Bolikango became a substitute member of the Conseil de la province de Léopoldville. He served in the post for three years. In December 1957 he unsuccessfully entered Léopoldville's first municipal elections. The Bangala as a whole did not do well in the campaign; their only form of organisation was Bolikango's Liboka Lya Bangala, an association with little cohesion. Following the electoral defeats, Bolikango decided to organise the Interfédérale, a federation among various regional and ethnic groups of the northern Congo that became the basis of his new Parti de l'unité Congolaise. Almost immediately after its creation the party collapsed due to ethnic differences. In April 1959 Patrice Lumumba asked Bolikango to become director of his nationalist political party, the Mouvement National Congolais, but he never committed to a decision. In the autumn of 1959 the Interfédérale became a part of the Parti National du Progrès. Bolikango did not follow them, instead founding the Front de l'unite Bangala, a political party representing the Bangala people of the northeastern Congo. Among them he was a popular figure; Bangala nicknames for him included "the Sage" and even "Moses". He hoped that by promoting the idea of a grande ethnie bangala he could enhance his political prospects. The Bangala were only unified as a political faction in the capital, so he began to look elsewhere for support. He was also a cofounder of the short-lived Mouvement pour le Progres National Congolais, a party formed by attendees of the Brussels exposition.Bolikango soon thereafter created the Association des ressortisants du Haut-Congo. From 20 January to 20 February 1960 Bolikango attended the Belgo-Congolese Round Table Conference in Brussels to discuss the Congo's future under Belgian rule, serving as the leading delegate for ASSORECO. He was assisted by his political adviser Victor Promontorio, whom he knew since their childhood. Bolikango was made a member of the conference's bureau. During the discussions he made an unexpectedly sharp denunciation of Belgian propaganda. He also acted as the spokesperson for the Front Commun, the political umbrella for all the Congolese delegations. In that capacity on 27 January he publicly revealed that independence would be granted to the Congolese on 30 June. Following the conference he traveled with a colleague to Bonn, Federal Republic of Germany to meet local politicians.
Attempts at consolidation
To consolidate his political power in Équateur Province, Bolikango summoned a congress to Lisala that lasted from 24 March to 3 April. Like his own party, the other political groups of Équateur lacked the necessary support to make significant gains in the upcoming independent elections. Bolikango was eager to win a prominent government office and aimed to form a broad coalition with the Ngombe, Mongo, and Ngwaka peoples and other minorities in the province to achieve it. This could be best accomplished, in his view, through an alliance of his own groups, the FUB and ASSORECO, with UNIMO, FEDUNEC, UNILAC, and local chiefs who had not already put their support behind the PNP.In his opening address at the congress, Bolikango said that while "parties based on ethnic foundations" made the first step toward a unified Congo, the "national interest" of the country rested upon a "unity of will". He enumerated that this "does not mean that each ethnic group must abandon its own characteristics, but that through these differences one must endeavour to form a harmonious ensemble." The UNIMO leadership was skeptical of Bolikango's unified outlook for the Congo and remained independent, although he secured the support of the Ngombe, some of the Ngwaka and Bangala, and chiefs from the Lisala, Bongandanga, and Bumba regions. The FUB made an alliance with ASSORECO and FEDUNEC, transforming into the Parti de l'Unité Nationale. In spite of its attempts to garner more national appeal, the new party retained its regional bias and failed to amass substantial outside support, costing Bolikango much of his backing in Léopoldville. Still, this reformed political base allowed him to win a position as a national deputy from the Mongala district in the May 1960 national election by 15,000 votes. He used his position as the president of PUNA to mediate a dispute between the party and minority alliances in Équateur and create a coalition provincial government. After the elections PUNA gradually pulled apart into two different wings, one led by Bolikango and the other by Équateur Provincial President Laurent Eketebi.
Meanwhile, the MNC sharply criticised Bolikango's connections with the Belgians, undermining his reputation in both Équateur and the capital. The Alliance des Bakongo also despised him due to his support for Catholic missions and the perception that he was "pro-white". He spent the month of May touring the Congo, claiming that he had the support of other party leaders in an alliance against Lumumba and the MNC. This opposition alliance was soon announced as the Cartel d'Union Nationale. As Lumumba was assembling his proposed cabinet, the Chamber of Deputies convened on 21 June to elect its officers. Bolikango made a bid to be President of the Chamber, but lost the vote to the MNC candidate, Joseph Kasongo, 74 to 58. The subsequent election of the Senate's officers also indicated an MNC advantage. Realising that Lumumba's bloc controlled Parliament, several members of the Cartel became eager to negotiate for a coalition government so they could share power, especially Bolikango, who hoped to secure the position of Defence Minister. This did not occur, but he did exact a written pledge from Lumumba of support for his bid to become the first President of the Republic of the Congo in exchange for his party's backing of Lumumba's government.
Bolikango faced his former protégé, Joseph Kasa-Vubu of ABAKO, in the parliamentary vote for the presidency. Lumumba realised that the Belgians would only accept him as Prime Minister if Kasa-Vubu held office, so he switched allegiances, privately dismissing Bolikango as a "pawn of Belgium and a protégé of the Catholics", and secretly endorsing Kasa-Vubu. Bolikango lost the parliamentary vote 159 to 43 and was left infuriated. In addition to Lumumba's duplicity, Bolikango also suffered in the election due to his recent association with the colonial administration and his breaking with the Cartel to negotiate with Lumumba. According to his friend, Thomas Kanza, the loss was "the most bitter failure in his entire career." He then helped organise an anti-MNC coalition in Parliament.