The South African owners of MTN are seeking an urgent explanation from Museveni, as are the governments of France, Italy, Rwanda and Belgium who’s nationals he booted out.

The exact motivation for deporting MTN Uganda chief executive Wim Vanhelleputte last week and four other top MTN executives  two weeks earlier is unclear.

Ugandan officials say the executive remained in contact after the expulsions and were running the company over the internet.

Others insist the action is a manifestation of a bitter row between Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni who is sheltering member of the Rwanda National Congress opposed to his counterpart Paul Kagame

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Kampala authorities say Wim Vanhelleputte was put on a plan to Belgium last night for security reasons.

This is the second high-level headache MTN has had in Uganda.

Last month, three senior executives were deported.

Authorities said they were planning to compromise  national security.

Uganda’s police spokesman Fred Enuga said MTN’s Uganda CEO Wim Vanhelleputte was deported back to his home country, Belgium for security reasons.

The mobile phone company says in a tweet it has not been given the precise reasons for this action and it’s trying to get clarity.

It’s appointed chief technical officer Gordan Kyomukama as the acting CEO.

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Of the many brickbats justifiably being hurled at the Congo’s new President Felix Tshisekdi, daddy’s boy is not one of them.

Nepotism could easily spring to mind as the reason why the son of the veteran opposition figure finally gets the job his father managed to secure.

This would be simplistic and frankly wrong.

Etienne Tshisekedi, who founded the Union for Democracy and Social Progress (UDPS) and opposed presidents Mobutu Sese Seko, Laurent Kabila and Joseph Kabila , made no bones about  what he saw as his son’s inexperience and inadequacies. He frequently said he was not about to hand his offspring  a free ticket to his life’s work.

It was only after Etienne’s death in 2017 that Belgian- educated Felix was able to rise through the ranks to take the leadership of the UDPS.

Felix is adamant that he will emulate his late  father who he refers to as his master.

Family members say the son has none of the stubbornness and pride that hampered his father but enabled him to persevere through internal exile and imprisonment.

Felix is diplomatic, conciliatory and ready to listen to a variety of viewpoints.

This should stand him in good stead running the Central African giant rich in minerals including the coltan that keeps our smart phones and other electronic devices working.

For if there is anything that that abounds in this fecund country capable of feeding the entire continent, it is the variety of viewpoints.

His father’s misgivings about his inexperience notwithstanding, Felix has shown an adeptness in deal making that would the envy of his counterpart in the White House.

He quickly broke free of an opposition election pact when it became clear that he could do more beneficial business with the incumbent President Joseph Kabila who was about it stand down after 18 years in power but made no secret of  medium-term plans to get back at the helm in 2023.

The deal they stitched up will give Tshisekedi the presidency but he will be hamstrung by not controlling the legislature still firmly in the hands of the Kabila coalition with 337 of the 500 seats.

Indeed, Tshisikedi’s coalition has only 46 MPs. The second most powerful party in the legislature – with 102 seats – is the coalition of Martin Fayulu who’s claim to have won the Presidential election is backed by the Catholic Church, the European Union, France and Belgium.

So Tshisekedi will have his work cut out delivering on his campaign promises to restore the rule of law, eradicate the “gangrene” of corruption and bring prosperity to the country reduced to poverty by decades of Mobutu Sese Seko’s kleptocracy, Laurent Kabila’s venality and his son’s corruption.

Nevertheless those countries and organizations that have put on record their serious doubts about the vote count recorded by the national electoral commission have now taken a pragmatic view.

They accept the sovereign decision of the Congolese administration and constitutional court, which upheld the election result, and are hoping Tshisekedi can do what he has promised.

The denouement is far from perfect. But which African solutions are? 

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Authorities in Kinshasa have prevented a rally by  Martin Fayulu who persists that he won the election.

Police removed the podium and speakers outside Martin Fayulu’s party headquarters where he was due to address supporters.

He’s refused President-elect Felix Tshisekedi’s invitation to work together because he maintains the election was stolen.

Invitations to Tshisekedi’s inauguration have been sent to foreign leaders.

It will be interesting to see who attends after the African Union, the European Union, France and Belgium have expressed serious doubts about the official results presented by the electoral commission and upheld by the constitutional court.

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The African Union, which says there are serious doubts about the figures presented to support Tshisekedi’s win, has scrapped plans to send a delegation to the Congo.

President Cyril Ramaphosa and his Kenyan counterpart Uhuru Keyatta say yesterday’s ruling by the Constitutional Court in Kinshasa confirms Felix Tshisekedi’s election win requires 

all actors to respect this exercise of DRC national sovereignty.

Martin Fayulu, who claims he won 60% of the vote calls on supporters to demonstrate peacefully against what he calls a constitutional coup d’etat.

The European Union has joined the African Union, France, Belgium and the Catholic bishops in casting doubt on the figures produced by the electoral commission in the DRC.

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The European grouping calls on all parties to refrain from any action that could lead to violence.

The EU statement notes that the African Union has serious doubts about the DRC poll results announced by the electoral commission and upheld by the constitutional court.

The Financial Times reports seeing documented evidence that proves Martin Fayulu won the election – confirming the information from more than 40 000 observers from the Catholic Church and justifying the misgivings of the African continental body and the governments of France and Belgium.

So far, the Presidents of South Africa and Kenya have congratulated Etienne Tshisekedi as President elect. 

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Their statements come ahead of the arrival in Kinshasa of a delegation from the African Union that says there are serious doubts about the result of the Presidential poll in Congo.

The statements from President Cyril Ramaphosa and SADC come after the Constitutional Court in the DRC threw out an appeal against the provisional election result by Martin Fayulu who claims to have won more than twice the 34,8% of votes allocated to  him by the electoral commission.

The African Union joins France, Belgium and the Catholic Bishops in expressing serious doubts about the commission’s figures.

It remains to be seen if the continental body will recognize Tshisikedi if, as planned, he is inaugurated within 10 days.

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Presidential spokesperson Lambert Mende notes the court ruling and asserts that Tshisekedi will become the Congo’s fifth president.

Martin Fayulu, who’s claim to have won the election with 60% of the vote was thrown out by the Constitutional Court, appeals to Congolese and the international community to reject what he calls a constitutional coup d’etat.

Felix Tshisekedi says the ruling is a victory for the Congo because he has a program of reconciliation.

The African Union says there are serious problems with the figures and  urges the Kinshasa authorities to suspended announcing a final result.

France, Belgium and the Catholic Bishops all say the provisional result from the electoral commission do not tally with observers’ figures on the ground. 

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But as the United Nations Security Council prepares to take up the matter today, the varied responses to the announcement from the electoral commission show it’s far from universally accepted.

The African Union congratulates the Congolese people on the peaceful election that will give the DRC the first democratic change of President in its history.

The European Union, by contrast says its waiting to peruse results from different observer missions.

France and Belgium have joined Catholic bishops in casting doubt on the provisional outcome giving Felix Tshisekedi victory.

Martin Fayulu, the man they believe actually won, denounces what he calls an electoral coup and says he’ll take his objections to the Constitutional Court that must now determined the final result.

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Demonstrations have torn the central African giant where polls have been closed to more than million voters  because of the EBOLA outbreak, military actions against rebels and ethnic violence.

Sunday’s election in the DRC should produce the first democratic change of president since the nation’s independence from Belgium in 1960. 

UN boss Antonio Guterres calls it an opportunity to consolidate the DRC’s democratic institutions.

He calls on the authorities, political leaders, election officials and civil society to avoid taking any provocative  action and to show maximum retrain to enable the more than 40 million voters peacefully to cast their ballots.

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