The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) witnessed a historic moment as Judith Suminwa Tuluka was sworn in as the first female Prime Minister on Wednesday, June 12, 2024.
Tuluka, alongside 54 other newly appointed government officials, took the oath of office before the National Assembly and the lower house of the DRC parliament. This followed the approval of Tuluka’s action programme by deputies, securing the required absolute majority.
Proud to have shattered the glass ceiling as the first Congolese woman to hold the position of Prime Minister, Tuluka remarked, “By assuming this position, I am fully aware of the historical importance of this moment and the symbolism of this appointment for the Congolese nation.
“I feel both the weight of the responsibility on me and an immense pride in the idea of representing within the Republic, the culmination of the efforts of all Congolese men and women tending to break the famous ‘glass ceiling'”.
She pledged to generate approximately 2.6 million jobs and establish an academy of mathematics and artificial intelligence in Kinshasa. Additionally, she outlined plans to address national security, economic diversification, infrastructure connectivity, public services, and climate change.
Judith Suminwa Tuluka holds a master’s degree in applied economics from the Universite libre de Bruxelles in Belgium. She assumed the role of State Minister for Planning in March 2023. Previously, she served as the Deputy Coordinator of the Presidential Strategic Monitoring Council, an agency affiliated with the presidential office, from 2020 to 2023.