Former NFL Star Running for Congo Presidency Warns Trump’s Minerals Deal is at Risk Due to Kinshasa’s Bad Governance and Chinese Dominance, But He Has a Plan to Save It (INTERVIEW)

In an interview with The Gateway Pundit, former NFL player and Democratic Republic of Congo presidential candidate Patrice Majondo Mwamba delivered a blunt warning that the Trump administration’s landmark critical minerals strategy with the DRC could be derailed by the very leadership in Kinshasa that signed the agreement.

Mwamba, a Texas Tech alumnus who previously ran for president in 2023 and finished 12th among 26 candidates after stepping aside for peace, told The Gateway Pundit that America’s push to secure Congo’s vast deposits of copper, lithium, cobalt and other strategic minerals is being undermined by “bad governance,” eastern unrest, and a push by current President Felix Tshisekedi to change the constitution to keep himself in office.

Mwamba explained how he helped lay the groundwork for the U.S.-DRC minerals partnership after his 2023 campaign.

“I was a very big advocate on how important it was for the DRC to actually partner with the United States of America,” he said. “One of the things that we had to offer was definitely our minerals potential… Given the fact that I do understand American politics quite well, I knew for a fact that the new administration would focus and shift its attention on the continent of Africa on a very transactional deal.”

He described sending official letters to the White House, Congress, and the Senate, emphasizing that the only path forward is “emancipating the private sector.”

The proposal he helped initiate with partners evolved into the Washington agreements and the United States and DRC Strategic Partnership Agreement.

Asked what President Trump has gotten right that previous leaders from both parties missed for 30 years, Mwamba explained that “the importance of actually pushing this opportunity through the private sector. You cannot develop a country… with just politics or regulations. At some point, you have to be able to open up your opportunities. Business people can develop the country, they can create jobs, and they can do much more.”

Mwamba also praised Trump for going “directly to the source” rather than through third parties, noting the president has reached out to over 18 African countries.

Yet Mwamba stressed that concrete wins remain scarce more than a year after the deal was signed.

“As far as the Congo, there is no win at this point besides the fact that the agreement was signed. To implement this agreement has been a challenge… We have a big problem in the Congo today, which is bad governance.”

He pointed to unrest in the Eastern Congo along the Rwanda border as making the business climate “quite challenging and difficult.”

For the United States, the primary achievement so far is symbolic.

“The good thing is they have sent a strong signal, not just in the region, but worldwide, that America is becoming very serious about taking these opportunities to the next level. Currently, the people that are controlling the mining sector on the continent are Chinese. This is the first time in my generation that the United States has decided to make this deal directly with African nations.”

Americans should care deeply about who controls Central Africa’s mines, Mwamba explained, because “without the large deposits of copper, lithium, cobalt… the DRC has 52 of the 55 strategic minerals on the globe—without the Congo, there is no modern technology. Without the Congo, there is really no strong development in the defense industry. The DRC is in the life of Americans on a daily basis: from your cell phone to your laptop to your machinery, everything.”

The candidate said that China currently controls “about 80% of the supply chain in the DRC.”

He warned that Congo’s stability affects nine neighboring countries and 250 to 300 million people.

When asked why Americans should support his efforts, Mwamba said, “I was born in the DRC, raised in Europe, and I’ve been in America for 26 years. For the past 10-plus years, I’ve been extremely involved at the highest level on the African continent. I’ve based myself in the DRC, but I advise some of the top African businessmen and presidents directly. I understand the dynamics required to conduct business properly. One of the things I’ve done when consulting is helping American companies navigate Africa, which is a challenge and not easy, and helping African leadership understand how Washington and America work.”

“Furthermore, I’ve been one of the biggest advocates on why the DRC should partner with the United States. To me, America should be a strategic partner. Every country has no choice but to have many different partners, but you have to pick one or two that you call strategic partners—those that enable you to grow and mature. What I love about America is that it brings standards. We have to have standards to fully mature the business. We are not here to make deals; we are here to build something together.”

On reports that Tshisekedi wants to revise the constitution to stay in power, Mwamba did not hold back.

“I am totally against that. The current President Felix Tshisekedi was the product of the first democratic passing of power from former President Kabila. I strongly stand by the fact that President Tshisekedi must respect the democratic way of handling the business and the process. It’s important for the Congo, for the continent, but most importantly for the stability of Congo. This is totally wrong and undemocratic. What former President Kabila did was open a new horizon for us to go forward. We don’t want to go back in time. Revising the constitution does very little for the stability of the DRC and the region, and we are seeing it currently with the unrest in the East. It is unconstitutional and against the law. Today, the people of Congo do not need to revise a constitution; they need food on the table, jobs created, and schools built so the next generation can profit from the gifts of the world. After his mandate, he should pass on power to the next generation. There is no reason for him to stay any longer than what the constitution allows.”

“For the Americans, it’s extremely dangerous,” he continued. “This deal is doomed to fail. It will be a dead bone and very costly for the people of the DRC, and it will be bad for the American people because America will still depend on getting its supplies from the Chinese. If we proceed in this way, we want to avoid repeating the mistakes of the past—like 1973 when former President Mobutu got independence from Belgium and took back the private sector. My point is that allowing the current president to change the constitution will just hurt this mineral agreement. Americans are willing to come to the DRC and do business, but American standards will not allow American businesses to enter a country lacking transparency, full of corruption, and lacking respect for the constitution and democracy.”

Mwamba also explained some of the dangers and challenges he has faced while campaigning for the presidency.

“Well, the current leadership in Congo is arresting almost all the opposition leaders,” he told TGP. “I am a victim of that. That’s why I’m abroad. If you look at most opposition leaders, they are outside the country because it’s very unsafe to be there. The leadership is not respecting any democratic standards, so we are forced to advocate from outside and make our voices heard from abroad. This leadership has failed the people of Congo.”

“Besides the insecurity for opposition contenders, the other challenge is the lack of infrastructure. The Congo is the size of Western Europe—a huge country. But imagine running an election campaign without an operating national airline. It’s only recently that Congo Airways leased two airplanes from Ethiopian Airlines. That’s totally crazy for a country of 120 million people. Making a presidential campaign is extremely challenging because logistics are unbearable. There are no roads. Everything is difficult. The leadership has the ability to open the roads for themselves, but for other candidates, it becomes impossible.”

Mwamba closed by offering what he believes both Congo and America need.

“What I am offering today through my policies and political agenda is 10 years of stability.”

“In every business, from feasibility studies to maturity, it takes time. That’s just the nature of business. You have to invest and watch it grow. This is what I’m offering to our international partners, and most importantly to our strategic partner, the United States of America: 10 years of growth, business stability, and strengthening the democracy we all talk about.”

He continued, “I don’t think anyone in the Western world would be able to live today without the technology we’re used to, but those things cannot be made unless the source is secure. The supply chain must be secure. Currently, it is not secure. For Americans, you are fully dependent on the Chinese. For the world, we are fully dependent on the day-to-day situation on the ground. We have had 30 years of civil unrest in Eastern Congo. At any given time, the supply chain can close or stop. This is not good for the development of the Western world, Africa, or the Congo.”

Mwamba, founder of the Our Congo Our Pride movement dedicated to constitutional democracy and responsible development, declared his 2028 candidacy in June, citing Congo’s “constitutional, security, humanitarian, and strategic breaking point.”

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He has positioned himself as the bridge who understands both Congo and the United States.

Full details on his platform and movement are available on his X account and at ourcongoourpride.com.